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STATUE   OF    BONIFACE   VIII,    IX    THE   CATHEDRAL,    FLORENCE. 


HISTORY 

OF 

POPE   BONIFACE   VIII 

AND    HIS    TIMES 

WITH 

NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTARY  EVIDENCE 

IN    SIX    BOOKS 

By 
DON   LOUIS  TOSTI 

BENEDICTINE    MONK    OF    MONTE    CASSINO 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE   ITALIAN 

BY  RT.  REV.  MGR.  EUGENE  J.  DONNELLY,  V.F. 

PASTOR  OF  ST.   MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,   FLUSHING,   L.  I.,    N.  Y. 


"  Entering  Alagna,  lo  the  fleur-de-lis, 
And  in  his  Vicar  Christ  a  captive  led ! 
I  see  him  mocked  a  second  time ; — again 
The  vinegar  and  gall  produced  I  see ; 
And  Christ  himself  'twixt  robbers  slain.*' 

DANTE,  Purgat.,  canto  XX. 


NEW  YORK 

CHRISTIAN   PRESS   ASSOCIATION 
PUBLISHING   COMPANY 


TMibil  ©bstat. 


Imprimatur. 


Imprimatur. 


REV.  REMIGIXJS  LAFORT.  S.T.L. 


*MOST  REV.  JOHN  M.  FARLEY,  D.D., 

Archbialwp  of  New  York. 


CHARLES  EDWARD, 

Bishop  of  Brooklyn. 


COPYRIGHT,  1911,  BY 
EUGENE  J.  DONNELLY. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

DEDICATION. 

TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE , 7 

BOOK      I 15 

BOOK    II    99 

BOOK  in 151 

BOOK   IV    216 

BOOK     V 266 

BOOK  VI    362 

NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

Brief  of  Pope  Alexander  IV  in  favor  of  Benedict  Gaetani  (Extract 

from  the  archives  of  the  church  of  Todi) 455 

Decree  of  the  Canons  of  Todi  in  favor  of  Benedict  Gaetani 455 

Note  relative  to  the  duel  between  Peter  of  Aragon  and  Charles  of 

Anjou  against  the  insinuations  of  Potter 456 

Note  relative  to  the  Master  of  the  Court  (Dominus  Curiae)   a  title 

given  to  Benedict  Gaetani  by  Ptolemy  of  Lucca 460 

Concerning  the  abdication  of  Celestine  V. 463 

Profession  of  faith  of  Benedict  Gaetani  before  his  elevation  to  the 

Papacy    465 

Encyclical  of  Boniface  with  regard  to  his  Pontificate 466 

Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip  the  Fair 469 

Imprisonment  and  death  of  Peter  Celestine 469' 

His  renunciation  of  the  Papacy 470 

His  return  to  his  cell  on  Mt.  Morone 471 

The  search  after  him 472 

His  flight  across  the  sea 473 

His  capture  and  confinement  in  the  castle  of  Fumone 474 

His  death  and  miracles  thereat 476 

Letter  of  Boniface  to  the  Sicilians  urging  them  to  return  to  submis- 
sion to  the  Church 476 

Another  letter  to  Frederick  of  Aragon  to  prevail  upon  him  to  leave 

Sicily    477 

Letter  of  Boniface  to  the  provincial  of  the  Friars  Minor  with  regard 

to  the  conversion  of  Guy  of  Montefeltro 479 

Constitution  on  the  Ecclesiastical   immunities ;    the   bull   "  Clericis 

Laicos."   480 

Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip  the  Fair 481 

Division  of  the  fiefs  among  the  Colonnas  (From  the  archives  of  Con- 
stable Colonna  in  Patrini,  Mon.  19.) 486 

3 


CONTENTS. 
4 

PAGE 

Act  appointing  James  Colonna  absolute  administrator  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Colonnas    (From  the  Barberini  archives  in  Patrini 

Hon.    21 ) 489 

Proceedings  against  the  Colonnas 490 

The  Colonna  libel  against  Boniface 493 

Sentence  of  Boniface  against  the  Colonnas 496 

Brief  of  Boniface  entrusting  the  direction  of  the  war  against  the 

Colonnas  to   Landolph   Colonna 500 

Reply  of  Boniface  to  the  Roman  people 500 

Two  sermons  of  Boniface  XIII,  delivered  at  Orvieto,  in  presence  of 
the  Cardinals,  on  the  occasion  of  the  canonization  of  Louis  IX, 

king    of    France 502 

Arbitral   decision   of   Boniface   in   the   proceedings   pending,   between 

Edward  of  England  and  Philip  the  Fair 508 

The  evil  counsel  of  Guy  of  Montefeltro 511 

Bull  instituting  the  Jubilee 521 

Exclusion  of  the  Sicilians  and  the  Colonnas  from  the  indulgence  of 

the    Jubilee 522 

The  offerings  of  the  Jubilee 523 

Letter  of  Boniface  to  Charles  II  reproving  him  for  his  impudence.  .  .  527 
Letter  of  Boniface  to  Cardinal  Acquasparta  charging  him  to  pacify 

Florence 528 

Letter  to  the  French  clergy  relative  to  the  appeal  of  Charles  of  Valois  528 

Letter  to  Cardinal  Acquasparta,  Legate  to  restrain  Charles  of  Valois  530 
Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip  the  Fair  regarding  the  Archbishopric  of 

Narbonne  and  the  county  of  Maguelonne 531 

Letter  to  Philip  the  Fair,  annexed  to  the  Bull,  "  Ausculta  " 533 

On  the  works  of  Egidius  Colonna 535 

Letter  to  the  clergy  of  France,  annexed  to  the  Bull,  "  Unam  Sanctam,"  536 
An  observation  on  the  constitution  "  Unam  Sanctam"  and  on  the  book 

of  Dante,  De  Monarchia 539 

A  letter  to  Albert,  king  of  the  Romans 540 

Constitution  of  Boniface  regarding  his  conflict  with  Philip  the  Fair.  .  541 

The  piety  of  Boniface 542 

Bull  of  Benedict  XI,  against  the  persecutors  of  Boniface 544 

The  infamous  erasures  in  the  register  of  the  letter  of  Boniface 545 


DEDICATION. 

To  thee,  Dante  Alighieri, 

We  consecrate  these  books, 

Which  recall  to  a  new  life 

The  memory  of  Boniface  the  Eighth. 

The  political  sorrows  which  troubled  thee, 

Do  not  dare  to  profane  thy  noble  heart ; 

And  even  when  the  anger  of  thy  mind 

Suggested  the  strangest  conceptions 

Thou  remaindest  an  Italian. 

So  in  the  presence  of  Boniface 

Whom  thou  considerest  an  enemy, 

And  whom  thou  loadest  with  eternal  infamy 

As  is  eternal  the  poetry  thou  madest, 

Respectfully  bow  thy  head ; 

And  venerate  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Bear  to-day, 

That  to  thy  soul  freed  from  anger 

History  may  present  herself 

And  speak  to  thee  of  a  man 

Whom  thou  wouldst  raise  to  the  heavens 

If  the  destinies  of  thy  Florence 

Had  been  less  tempestuous. 

More  on  the  strength  of  his  virtue 

Than  on  these  pages, 

He  rises  so  high 

As  to  place  himself  without  blemish  before  thee. 

He  pardons  thee. 

And  on  the  volume  thou  hast  written, 

A  last  refuge 

Of  Italian  grandeur 

Let  them  lie 

Reconciled  with  him, 

The  sovereign  keys 

As  a  proof  of  this  union 

Which  alone  can  render  fruitful  the  hopes 

Of  mother  country. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


A  BACKWARD  glance  through  the  history  of  the  Middle 
Ages  may  show  us  not  a  few  majestic  figures  among  the 
popes,  but  none  so  striking  and  remarkable  as  that  of  Bon- 
iface VIII.  Surrounded  by  stern  and  simple  times  he  ap- 
peals to  us  with  peculiar  directness  because  of  the  almost 
universal  and  lasting  denunciation  of  historians,  both  of  his 
own  and  later  times.  The  history  of  the  Church  during 
these  times  is  wholly  a  history  of  the  struggle  of  the  Papacy 
against  the  supremacy  of  the  Imperial  power.  Some  popes 
more  than  others  are  distinguished  for  the  bold  resistance 
they  showed  to  this  unjust  assumption,  and  strove  to  main- 
tain the  rights  of  the  Church,  among  whom  are  to  be  partic- 
ularly mentioned  Alexander  III,  Gregory  VII,  Innocent 
III,  and  Boniface  VIII. 

Pope  Boniface  VIII  deserves  to  be  called  the  last  pope  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  during  his  Pontificate  that  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Holy  See  was,  for  the  first  time, 
attacked  by  France,  and  the  prestige  of  the  Papacy  was 
subjected  to  the  most  violent  outrages.  He  was  a  great 
medieval  pope.  His  figure  can  be  justly  compared  with 
that  of  Innocent  III,  or  Gregory  IX.  Like  them  he  sol- 
emnly affirmed  the  pontifical  authority;  like  them  he 
fought  princes  with  a  stubbornness  which  alone  equalled 
the  consciousness  he  had  of  his  own  rights.  By  his  sump- 
tuous ceremonies,  by  his  striking  and  eloquent  Bulls,  he 
manifested  to  the  world  the  grandeur  and  power  of  the 
Papacy.  The  Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII  is  the  beginning 
of  a  transition  period ;  it  exhibits  the  sinking  of  the  papal 
power  and  the  rising  of  the  secular  state-idea  hostile  to 
the  Church.  The  subordination  of  the  secular  under  the 
spiritual  order  was  denied.  The  See  of  Peter  was  shaken 
but  not  destroyed. 

But  he  is  the  last  pope  of  the  Middle  Ages,  because  in  the 

7 


8  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

combat  which  he  sustained  against  the  enemies  of  his 
temporal  power,  he  was,  in  the  main,  vanquished.  He  dis- 
appeared at  the  dawn  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  as  is 
well  known  this  period  marked  the  decline  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  old  Christian  republic  into  which  the  European 
states  had  resolved  themselves,  had  disappeared.  Na- 
tionalities began  to  assume  form;  heresies  succeeded  in  im- 
planting themselves,  in  living,  in  prospering,  for  a  time. 
After  the  sojourn  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  which  was  a 
kind  of  a  gilded  captivity,  the  Great  Schism  began  to  divide 
Christianity  into  two  or  even  three  parties  who  engaged  in 
long  and  bitter  struggles.  The  faithful  were  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish who  was  the  true  pope ;  even  the  saints  themselves 
were  beguiled;  Councils  did  nothing  else  but  increase  the 
evil  of  the  situation,  and  on  all  sides  men  of  courage  were 
bewailing  the  misfortunes  of  the  Church.  At  the  same  time 
frightful  wars  harassed  the  people  and  epidemics  devas- 
tated the  half  of  Europe.  Boniface  VIII  had  long  been 
dead  before  these  disasters  appeared,  but  he  preceded  them 
immediately.  His  end  so  sad  and  gloomy  after  the  outrage 
of  Anagni  seemed  to  forebode  that  evils  without  number 
would  be  visited  on  the  Church;  and  it  was  no  vain  fore- 
boding. This  is  the  reason  why  we  have  said  that  he  was 
the  last  pope  truly  medieval.  His  grand  figure  in  the  last 
days  of  the  Middle  Ages  blazons  forth,  and  his  fall  precipi- 
tates that  of  this  stormy  epoch. 

One  can  easily  understand  how  the  history  of  such  a  pope 
has  been  the  subject  of  many  impassioned  and  biased  works. 
French  writers  had  studied  the  reasons  which  led  to  the 
differences  between  Boniface  and  Philip  the  Fair,  and  from 
the  first,  they  are  violently  hostile  to  the  Pope.  One  can  be 
convinced  of  this  by  reading  the  work  published  by  Dupuy 
in  1655.  Other  writers  are  milder  and  less  bitter  in  tone, 
but  they  make  no  effort  to  conceal  their  bias. 

The  chief  reproaches  that  are  brought  against  Boniface 
VIII  relate  to  the  abdication  of  Celestine  V;  his  own  elec- 
tion to  the  Papacy;  the  imprisonment  of  Celestine  V;  the 
quarrel  that  arose  between  him  and  the  Colonna  family, 
and  Philip  the  Fair.  But  all  these  charges  will  be  met  and 
explained  to  the  reader  during  his  perusal  of  this  history. 
Moreover  the  moral  portraits  of  Boniface  and  Philip  the 
Fair  being  traced,  there  is  no  doubt  that  approaching  them 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.  9 

nearer  in  order  to  observe  their  conduct  in  the  famous 
quarrel,  the  truth  will  be  seen  more  plainly  and  more  easily. 

Like  Gregory  VII,  who  was  the  foremost  man  in  the 
pontificates  of  his  several  predecessors,  on  whom  they  relied 
for  support,  and  who  strongly  defended  the  rights  of  the 
Church,  so  Benedict  Gaetani  (Boniface  VIII),  was  the 
great  factor  and  most  celebrated  personage  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  five  preceding  popes;  who  was  sent  on  the 
most  difficult  embassies,  and  was  called  upon  to  manage 
affairs  of  great  moment  and  settle  the  difficulties  between 
the  Church  and  princes.  The  knowledge  of  all  the  evils 
which  agitated  the  Church  within  his  own  memory,  together 
with  others  which  for  a  long  time  previously  beset  her, 
served  as  generating  facts  which  gave  form  and  character 
to  the  one  thought  which  entered  deeply  into  his  mind, 
namely  the  Church  reduced  to  servitude  not  by  secret 
enemies,  but  by  those  who  called  themselves  her  children 
and  her  vassals,  and  forced  to  work  in  this  humiliating 
condition.  Under  such  circumstances  a  man  like  Boniface, 
on  whom  nature  had  lavished  her  choicest  gifts,  and  who 
was  equally  skilled  in  canon  and  civil  law;  whose  talents 
and  accomplishments  fitted  him  to  be  no  less  a  secular 
prince  than  the  Head  of  the  Church;  whose  strong  sense 
and  firmness  of  character  enabled  him  to  fully  comprehend 
his  mission  and  his  office,  and  to  go  straight  through  with 
whatever  business  he  had  in  hand,  without  turning  to  the 
right  or  to  the  left;  who  surpassed  all  his  predecessors  in 
talent  for  affairs,  experience  of  practical  life,  and  who 
was  still  in  the  full  tide  and  vigor  of  manhood,  must,  when 
calling  upon  the  memories  of  Gregory  VII  and  Innocent 
III,  have  resolved  to  follow  their  example  in  pursuing  a 
well-defined  policy,  and  assuming  a  bold  and  determined 
attitude.  The  character  of  the  first  decrees  issued  by  him, 
placed  him  as  a  churchman  beside  Innocent  III.  Although 
the  views  entertained  by  Boniface  regarding  the  relations 
of  Church  and  State,  were  not  precisely  those  put  forward 
by  his  great  predecessors,  Gregory  and  Innocent,  they 
differed  from  them  only  because  the  altered  circumstances 
of  his  age  called  for  a  corresponding  change  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal policy. 

Boniface  during  all  his  Pontificate  strove  to  maintain 
the  rights  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Holy  See  as  he  had  re- 


10  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

ceived  them  from  his  predecessors.  He  aimed  at  nothing 
else  but  to  preserve  intact  these  same  rights  of  the  Church, 
not  only  in  the  sanctuary,  but  also  in  the  heart  of  civil  so- 
ciety itself,  over  the  temporal  destinies  of  which  he  could 
no  more  cease  to  preside,  than  the  soul  over  the  purely 
material  functions  of  the  body.  Philip  the  Fair  was  de- 
termined to  thwart  him,  and  to  exercise  his  rule  with  ab- 
solute independency  from  any  spiritual  control. 

The  resistance  with  which  he  opposed  all  manner  of 
injustice  during  his  lifetime,  opened  a  way  after  his  death 
to  resentment,  which  furiously  assailed  his  memory  and 
oppressed  it.  The  tendency  of  the  writers  of  the  time  being 
in  favor  of  either  Guelph  or  Ghibelline,  they  portrayed 
the  actions  of  this  Pope  to  suit  their  own  views,  and  just 
as  rumor  expressed  them.  Philip  the  Fair  in  France,  the 
Colonnas  in  Italy,  the  proud  Roman  Patriciate,  and  all 
those  who  had  experienced  the  strong  temperament  of 
Boniface  in  anger,  cast  the  stone  of  vituperation  upon  his 
sepulchre,  in  addition  to  a  cry  of  execration  and  vengeance. 
Care  must  be  taken  so  that  his  character  must  not  be 
judged  by  what  French  writers  say.  His  character  and 
career  ought  in  all  fairness  to  be  judged  by  a  contemporary 
instead  of  a  modern  standard  of  ethics  and  ideas.  To 
judge  him  impartially  one  should  transport  himself  to  the 
age  in  which  he  lived,  and  take  into  account  the  then  politi- 
cal institutions,  and  the  principles  of  legislation  and  gov- 
ernment. Both  those  of  his  own  and  those  of  later  times, 
wrote  under  the  guidance  of  unreasonable  prejudices,  be- 
cause they  knew  only  French  facts,  or  were  under  the  im- 
pression of  some  momentary  quarrel  with  the  Holy  See. 

The  memory  of  Boniface  has  been  assailed  by  Dante,  who 
puts  him  in  a  poetical  hell,  but  his  opinion  is  vilely  prej- 
udiced on  account  of  political  reasons,  and  he  speaks  with 
the  usual  license  of  a  poet,  and  not  with  the  truthful  spirit 
of  a  historian.  But  after  the  outrage  at  Anagni  he  relented 
at  its  contemplation,  and  forgot  his  political  feeling  to  give 
vent  to  his  indignation  at  the  insult  offered  to  Christ's 
Vicar  in  the  following  verses : 

"  Entering  Alagna,  lo  the  fleur-de-lis, 
And  in  his  vicar,  Christ  a  captive  led ! 
I  see  him  mocked  a  second  time;— again 
The  vinegar  and  gall  produced  I  see ;       ( 
And  Christ  himself  'twixt  robbers  slain." 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.  U 

Petrarch  his  fellow  poet  and  contemporary  calls  Boniface 
(meraviglia  del  mondo)  the  marvel  of  the  world.  It  has 
been  the  sad  fate  of  Boniface  VIII  to  have  made  many 
enemies.  Most  Protestant  authors  have  numbered  him 
among  the  wicked  popes. 

But  he  has  found  some  apologists  and  defenders,  and 
among  them  the  first  place  is  to  be  given  to  the  celebrated 
Benedictine  of  Monte  Cassino,  Dom  Louis  Tosti.  This  his- 
torian is  among  the  foremost  of  Italy  whose  various  works 
have  been  favorably  received  everywhere,  and  have  made 
him  renowned  for  splendid  historical  attainments.  His 
work :  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  Boniface  VIII,"  which  w^e 
present  to  the  public  in  an  English  dress,  is  an  admirable 
and  effective  defence  of  that  Pope.  In  it  he  breathes  the 
true  spirit  of  a  historian;  he  neither  apologizes,  nor  does 
he  advance  a  proof,  without  producing  documentary  evi- 
dence from  the  most  approved  sources.  In  the  compilation 
of  this  work  Tosti  had  access  to  many  unpublished  docu- 
ments in  the  Vatican  Archives,  and  to  have  drawn  from 
them  much  information  of  the  greatest  value.  This  book 
which  we  present  to  the  English  reading  public,  is  not  a 
controversial  work.  It  has  not  been  written,  nor  trans- 
lated with  the  view  of  reviving  doctrines  which,  confes- 
sedly, exercised  a  salutary  sway  in  the  Middle  Ages,  but 
of  which  no  one  dreams  of  seeing  them  exercised  in  the 
actual  state  of  the  world,  at  this  hour,  when  the  Church, 
very  far  from  claiming  an  interference  in  the  temporal 
affairs  of  states,  prefers  rather  to  preserve  her  incontesta- 
ble spiritual  rights. 

To  establish  in  its  day  truth  obscured  by  passions;  to 
render  to  virtue  its  honor,  and  to  avenge  the  opprobrium 
of  six  centuries;  to  inflict  on  crime  triumphant  the  repro- 
bation it  deserves ;  to  serve  also  the  designs  of  divine  Prov- 
idence, which  does  not  defer  always  the  cause  of  justice  to 
the  future  life,  such  is  the  noble  purpose  which  Dom  Tosti 
had  in  view,  and  which  we  also  maintain  in  our  work  of 
translation.  "  The  History  of  Boniface  VIII  and  his 
Times,"  is  then  solely  a  work  of  historical  reparation,  a 
satisfaction  due  morality  and  society. 

If,  profiting  by  the  generous  efforts  of  others  before  him 
to  restore  the  memory  of  a  pontiff  persecuted  and  out- 
raged during  his  life,  and  calumniated  and  execrated  after 


12  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

his  death,  the  illustrious  Benedictine  has  succeeded  in  de- 
fending it  in  a  most  complete  manner,  yet  he  has  not  pre- 
tended to  have  said  the  last  word  in  this  solemn  discussion. 
But  by  furnishing  some  important  points  of  procedure,  he 
has  contributed  to  the  triumph  of  his  client,  of  his  hero; 
and  this  service,  we  confidently  believe,  will  win  for  him 
the  sympathy  not  only  of  Catholics,  but  also  of  all  those 
honest  souls,  steadfastly  faithful  to  the  sacred  principles  of 
equity. 

Boniface  was  a  man  of  great  and  remarkable  qualities. 
In  his  day,  before  his  ordination,  he  was  known  far  and 
wide  for  his  knowledge  of  civil  law,  and  his  fame  as  a 
lawyer  has  been  preserved  and  handed  down  to  the  present 
day  by  a  collection  of  laws  bearing  the  title :  "  The  Gaetani 
Code  of  Laws."  He  became  so  well-versed  in  canon  law 
that  he  was  considered  the  first  canonist  of  his  age,  and 
his  reputation  for  learning  soon  became  widespread.  He 
was  an  admirer  of  the  fine  arts,  and  a  strong  and  liberal 
protector  and  patron  of  artists.  He  embellished  his  be- 
loved town  of  Anagni,  where  he  fixed  his  summer  residence, 
and  restored  its  cathedral,  in  memory  of  which  the  people 
placed  his  statue  in  a  niche  of  the  facade,  which  exists  at 
the  present  time.  He  completed  and  opened  to  divine  wor- 
ship that  beautiful  Gothic  cathedral  of  Orvieto.  In  Rome 
he  rebuilt  the  church  of  St.  Lawrence  in  Panisperna.  He 
invited  the  celebrated  Giotto  to  Rome,  and  engaged  him 
to  decorate  the  churches  of  St.  Peter,  and  St.  John  Lateran, 
and  in  the  latter  there  is  still  to  be  seen  the  portrait  of 
Boniface  drawn  by  that  artist.  His  literary  acquirements 
no  one  disputes.  The  Sixth  Book  of  the  Decretals  will 
attest  them  as  long  as  God's  undying  Church  shall  last. 
He  elevated  to  the  honors  of  the  altar  Louis  IX,  the  grand- 
father of  Philip  the  Fair.  He  increased  the  solemnity  of 
the  feasts  of  the  four  evangelists;  and  raised  the  feasts  of 
the  four  Latin  Doctors,  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Jerome  and 
Gregory,  a  degree  higher.  He  composed  the  hymn  "  Ave 
Virgo  Gloriosa"  and  the  prayer :  "  Deus,  qui  pro  redemp- 
tione  mundi ; "  and  he  left  five  orations  on  the  canoniza- 
tion of  St.  Louis,  the  purity  and  elegance  of  whose  Latin 
is  still  much  admired.  General  science  owes  to  him  the 
foundation  of  the  university  of  the  Sapienza  at  Rome,  as 
well  as  the  university  at  Fermo.  Religion  owes  to  him  the 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.  13 

consoling  institution  of  the  Jubilee,  the  most  beautiful  con- 
ception of  his  Pontificate. 

Cardinal  Wiseman  who  has  written  an  able  defence  of 
this  Pope  says :  "  Accustomed  as  we  have  been  to  hear  and 
read  so  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  Boniface  VIII,  we 
naturally  required  some  cause,  however  slight,  to  turn  our 
attention  towards  a  particular  examination  of  such  griev- 
ous charges.  The  pencil  of  Giotto  must  claim  the  merits, 
such  as  it  is.  The  portrait  of  Boniface  by  him  in  the 
Lateran  Basilica,  so  different  in  character  from  the  rep- 
resentations of  modern  history,  awakened  in  our  minds  a 
peculiar  interest  regarding  him,  and  led  us  to  the  examina- 
tion of  several  popular  assertions,  affecting  his  moral  and 
ecclesiastical  conduct.  He  soon  appeared  to  us  in  a  new 
light ;  as  a  pontiff  who  began  his  reign  with  most  glorious 
promise,  and  closed  it  amid  sad  calamities;  who  devoted, 
through  it  all,  the  energies  of  a  great  mind,  cultivated  by 
profound  learning,  and  matured  by  long  experience  in  the 
most  difficult  ecclesiastical  affairs,  to  the  attainment  of  a 
truly  noble  end ;  and  who,  throughout  his  career,  displayed 
many  great  virtues,  could  plead  in  extenuation  of  his  faults, 
the  convulsed  state  of  public  affairs,  the  rudeness  of  his 
times,  and  the  faithless,  violent  character  of  many  among 
those  with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  These  circumstances, 
working  upon  a  mind  naturally  upright  and  inflexible,  led 
to  a  sternness  of  manner  and  severity  of  conduct,  which, 
when  viewed  through  the  feelings  of  modern  times,  may 
appear  extreme,  and  almost  unjustifiable.  But  after  study- 
ing the  conduct  of  this  great  Pope,  after  searching  through 
the  pages  of  his  most  hostile  historians,  we  are  satisfied  that 
this  is  the  only  point  upon  which  a  plausible  charge  can  be 
brought  against  him ;  a  charge  which  has  been  much  exag- 
gerated, and  which  the  considerations  just  enumerated 
must  sufficiently  repel,  or  in  a  great  part  extenuate."  The 
same  author  makes  one  or  two  other  remarks :  "  Although 
the  character  of  Boniface  was  certainly  stern  and  inflexible, 
there  is  not  a  sign  of  it  having  been  cruel  or  revengeful. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  his  history,  not  an  instance  can 
be  found  of  his  having  punished  an  enemy  with  death. 
When  he  was  returning  to  Home,  after  his  liberation,  in  a 
triumph  never  before  witnessed,  Cardinal  Stephanesius 
tells  us,  that  his  principal  enemy  Xogaret,  or  Sciarra  Col- 


14  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

onna,  was  seized  by  the  people  and  brought  before  him, 
that  he  might  deal  with  him  as  he  pleased;  he  freely  par- 
doned him  and  let  him  go.  So,  likewise,  when  Fra.  Jaco- 
pone  fell  into  his  hands,  he  dealt  leniently  with  him,  and 
confined  him,  where  others  would  have  treated  the  offence 
as  capital.  These  examples  of  forgiveness  and  gentleness, 
ought  surely  to  have  due  weight  in  estimating  the  Pope's 
character." 

And  so  we  send  forth  this  work  to  the  English  reading 
public,  that  they  might  gain  a  right  idea  of  his  character 
as  well  hoping  that  it  may  be  able  to  remove  the  mass  of 
error  and  calumny  that  has  accumulated  around  the  name 
of  Boniface  VIII,  for  the  past  six  centuries,  and  likewise 
remove  the  obloquy  which  still  rests  on  his  memory.  If 
this  end  be  attained  the  labor  of  translation  will  be  re- 
warded, and  we  shall  be  amply  repaid  for  having  under- 
taken it.  May  justice  and  truth  prevail  regarding  this 
great,  learned  and  magnanimous  Pope,  and  may  he  have 
the  place  he  merits  among  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs,  which  is 
among  the  highest  and  the  greatest. 

EUGENE  J.  DONNELLY. 
October  26th,  1910. 


BOOK    FIRST. 

SUMMARY. 

1217  to  1295. 

Classification  of  human  events  from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  our 
own  times. — The  Pontificate  of  Boniface  is  a  generating  fact. — How 
he  personified  the  separation  of  the  priesthood  from  the  Empire. — 
Reflections  on  the  political  ministration  of  the  Papacy. — How  the 
civil  Pontificate  will  always  live,  although  the  exercise  of  it  ceased 
after  Boniface. — Charles  of  Anjou  and  the  Roman  Pontiffs. — Mistakes 
which  the  latter  made. — 'The  trouble  they  prepared  for  their  suc- 
cessors.— The  Sicilian  Vespers. — The  birth  and  education  of  Benedict 
Gaetani. — His  first  employments  in  the  Church. — 'His  first  embassy  to 
Rudolph,  at  war  with  Charles,  for  the  possession  of  Provence. — He 
is  created  Cardinal. — 'Another  embassy  to  restrain  Charles  from  fighting 
a  duel  with  Peter  of  Aragon. — Indiscretions  of  Martin  IV. — -Naples 
and  Sicily  under  Pope  Honorius. — 'Dionysius,  king  of  Portugal,  trouble- 
some to  the  Church. — Cardinal  Gaetani  is  sent  with  other  cardinals 
to  pass  sentence  on  him. — 'He  goes  to  France  in  the  quality  of  legate 
on  affairs  relating  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  becomes  acquainted  with 
Philip  the  Fair. — He  makes  every  effort  for  peace,  and  writes  the 
treaty  of  Tarascon. — Conclave  held  after  the  death  of  Nicholas  III. — • 
Divisions  and  delays  of  the  Cardinals. — Charles  the  Lame  intrudes 
himself  among  them  and  Cardinal  Gaetani  ejects  him. — 'Peter  Morone 
elected  Pope. — A  description  of  him. — He  accepts  the  Papacy. — He 
falls  altogether  under  the  power  of  Charles  and  perverse  men. — He  is 
crowned. — Gaetani  is  the  last  one  to  repair  to  Aquila. — In  what  con- 
dition he  found  things,  and  how  he  came  to  be  Lord  of  the  Curia. — 
Peter  Celestine  exasperates  the  Cardinals. — They  begin  to  advise  him 
to  resign. — He  is  disposed  to  do  so. — He  takes  counsel  with  Cardinal 
Gaetani. — Artifices  of  Charles  II. — Abdication  of  St.  Celestine. — Dis- 
positions of  the  Cardinal  electors. — Gaetani  elected  Pope. — Calumnies 
regarding  his  election. — First  measures  of  Boniface  which  disturb  the 
beginning  of  his  Pontificate. — He  repairs  to  Rome. — An  observation. — • 
Ceremonies  of  the  cornonation  of  the  new  Pope.— 'Encyclical  of  Boni- 
face.— Letter  to  King  Philip  the  Fair. 

IT  was  with  much  agitation  of  mind  that  we  proposed 
to  narrate  the  history  of  Boniface  VIII,  for  the  reason 
that  his  name,  in  many  books,  groans  under  the  weight  of 

15 


IQ  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFAC3    VIII. 

the  greatest  abuse  and  slander.  We  shall  not  now  speak 
of  the  reasons  for  the  almost  universal  and  lasting  denun- 
ciations of  historians  (both  of  his  own  and  later  times), 
nor  of  their  justice,  nor  their  iniquity;  these  causes  are 
very  clearly  revealed  from  the  facts  themselves  without 
any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  narrator.  To  prepare  the 
mind  of  the  reader,  however,  we  must  make  known  the 
motives  which  inspired  us  with  courage  to  publish  anew 
the  true  facts  of  the  history  of  that  Pontiff. 

To  form  a  judgment  on  past  events,  and  to  discover  the 
evidence  of  their  moral  right,  it  does  not  suffice  to  examine 
them  severely  and  intelligently ;  the  true  science  of  history 
consists  in  choosing  from  among  them  those  which,  in  the 
order  of  human  events,  start  up  as  beginnings  and  fertile 
causes  of  great  changes.  Upon  these  as  on  a  high  elevation 
the  historian  places  himself  in  order  to  view  and  follow 
the  successive  development  of  subordinate  events  which 
lie  hidden,  and  which  come  forth  when  circumstances  have 
reached  their  maturity.  The  events  which  we  call  gener- 
ators, are  the  great  social  revolutions,  always  preceded  by 
secret  causes  which  prepared  the  way  for  them,  and  al- 
ways followed  by  consequences  which  reveal  their  power. 
When  a  fact  of  this  nature  strikes  the  mind  of  a  phil- 
osopher, it  there  awakens  a  struggle,  more  or  less  pro- 
longed, of  two  contrary  ideas  in  the  breasts  of  the  people, 
and  the  victory  of  one  of  them  over  the  other.  The  fact 
that  expresses  the  triumph  of  the  victorious  idea,  is  pre- 
cisely that  which  is  called  a  revolt,  because  it  allures  the 
vanquished  idea  and  causes  it  to  pass  under  its  sway. 

To  write  a  complete  history  of  the  human  family,  it  will 
suffice  then  to  discern  these  generating  facts;  because  from 
a  study  of  them  every  other  fact  will  be  revealed,  being 
made  clear  by  the  light  from  the  generating  fact.  Hence, 
turning  our  attention  to  events  which  form  the  history  of 
society  from  the  fall  of  the  Latin  Empire  to  our  own  times, 
we  find  three  events  which  merit  the  name  of  revolutions; 
namely,  the  terrible  invasion  of  the  Barbarians  into 
Europe ;  the  quarrel  of  Philip  the  Fair  with  the  Holy  See ; 
and  the  revolution  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
commonly  called  the  French  Kevolution. 

A  government  without  rule  and  restraint,  which  estab- 
lishes itself  on  the  ruins  of  the  virtue  of  a  people,  is  of 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  17 

itself  alone  a  sufficient  preparation,  and  as  well  a  neces- 
sary cause  of  revolution,  internal  or  external,  as  the  force 
may  be  which  accelerates  the  turbulent  fact ;  and  the  strug- 
gle is  then  between  right  and  force,  order  or  disorder. 
From  Augustus  to  Augustulus  this  cause  unfolded  itself, 
and  sapped  the  foundation  of  the  edifice  of  the  ancient  civ- 
ilization, which  crumbled  away  when  an  external  force, 
the  Barbarians,  ruined  the  Roman  Empire.  The  idea 
of  disorder  and  tyranny  having  triumphed  invisibly,  on  its 
ruins  and  amidst  the  horrors  of  a  boisterous  cruelty  they 
led  Pagan  Rome,  a  slave,  to  the  feet  of  Christian  Rome, 
and  made  her  thus  submissive  to  the  idea  of  justice  and 
order.  They  could  not  personify  that  idea,  because  they 
were  barbarians;  therefore,  triumphant,  but  wandering, 
they  walked  the  earth,  but  could  not  vivify  it.  This  task 
was  undertaken  by  the  Roman  Papacy;  and  the  day  on 
which  Pope  Leo  placed  the  imperial  crown  on  the  head  of 
Charlemagne,  it  seems  to  us  the  great  revolution  was  ac- 
complished. Right  administered  by  the  pontifical  hand 
ruled  both  princes  and  people;  and  as  it  is  the  life  of 
human  society,  the  Popes  penetrated  deeply  into  this  so- 
ciety; they  even  took  possession  of  the  heart,  to  revive  the 
sources  of  its  life,  and  equally  subservient  to  them  they 
held  the  ruler  and  the  ruled.  This  was  the  infancy  of  the 
rising  generations,  and  it  was  in  peace.  But,  advancing 
in  social  life,  the  princes  were  the  first  to  be  enamored  of 
ancient  pagan  Rome,  which  in  its  cold  but  still  dangerous 
ruins  concealed  the  idea  of  the  monarchy  of  Augustus. 
They  declared  openly  for  it,  they  cleansed  it  from  the  ob- 
scenities of  a  Tiberius  and  a  Nero,  they  marked  its  brow 
with  the  cross  of  Christ,  they  made  it  sit  with  them  on 
their  thrones,  and  they  began  to  antagonize  the  Papacy,  to 
drive  it  out  not  only  from  civil  society,  but  to  consign  it 
again  to  the  catacombs. 

The  Emperors  of  the  house  of  Hohenstaufen  and  the 
Popes  of  their  times,  were  the  expression  of  the  great 
struggle  between  the  Church  and  the  Empire,  which  was 
to  prepare  another  revolution,  that  is  to  say,  the  victory  of 
either  one  of  the  two  powers  over  the  other.  As  long  as 
the  Empire  was  personified  by  men  whose  strength  of  mind 
equalled  the  greatness  of  the  idea  they  represented,  tlio 
power  of  the  Church,  finding  in  her  pontiffs  a  strong  and 


lg  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

solid  prop,  held  good  and  survived.  But,  on  the  death  of 
Frederick  II,  the  idea  of  the  pagan  monarchy  was  en- 
feebled by  reason  of  its  division  among  many  crowned 
heads,  and  the  Pontificate  counting  on  a  complete  victory, 
moderated  that  vigor  that  had  been  displayed  by  Innocent 
III,  Gregory  IX,  and  Innocent  IV. 

The  pontifical  energy  revived  however  at  the  excesses  of 
King  Philip,  and  it  confronted  him  with  the  breast  of 
Boniface  VIII.  All  the  kingdoms  were  silent  spectators 
of  the  struggle  for  the  principles  which  these  men  repre- 
sented. And  when  they  saw  the  Pope  imprisoned,  struck, 
fall  into  the  grave,  and  saw  the  stone  of  vituperation 
placed  upon  this  grave  by  a  Christian  king,  they  realized 
that  a  revolution  was  now  completed,  the  separation  of 
the  Priesthood  from  the  Empire. 

When  the  Church  was  set  aside,  the  right  which  the 
popes  had  visibly  exercised  over  the  head  of  kings  was  re- 
placed by  an  invisible  right  which  the  princes  invoked, 
and  by  virtue  of  which  they  ventured  to  reign ;  this  right 
the  people  did  not  see  and  to  it  they  could  not  appeal.  In 
vain  did  the  kings  have  recourse  to  the  theories  of  those 
learned  in  law,  to  render  this  right  perceptible ;  how  could 
lawyers  inspire  men  with  as  much  respect  as  the  Pontiffs? 
The  people  often  with  both  hands  closed  the  volume  of  a 
right  which  the  will  of  another  man  could  not  sanctify  in 
their  eyes ;  then  commenced  the  fierce  struggle  of  interests 
between  the  people  and  the  kings,  or  the  fight  for  liberty 
and  for  power,  for  the  people  in  their  ignorance  did  not 
understand  how  the  power  can  reside  in  a  man.  This  ina- 
bility was  formerly  supplied  by  Faith,  and  with  this  there 
was  nothing  easier  to  comprehend  than  the  power  in  the 
[Pope,  the  representative  of  Jesus  Christ.  Now  as  France 
had  accomplished  the  revolution  which  separated  the 
Priesthood  from  the  Empire,  she  achieved  also  the  end  of 
the  struggle  between  monarchy  and  democracy.  To  France 
belonged  this  mission;  for  in  her  impetuosity  to  separate 
herself  from  the  sacerdotal  principle,  not  finding  in  the 
monarchy  the  guarantees  of  the  Church,  she  must  neces- 
sarily tend  to  clash  indirectly  with  the  principle  of  democ- 
racy. Therefore  all  modern  history  springs  from  these 
three  revolutions,  the  source  and  origin  of  every  other 
event,  from  the  barbarians  victorious  over  the  Latin  Em- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  19 

pire;  from  the  priesthood  excluded  throughout  France 
from  the  heart  of  civil  society;  and  from  the  monarchy 
overthrown  by  democracy  in  France. 

From  which  it  appears,  that  in  every  revolution,  the 
men  who  represent  the  conquered  or  the  conquering  prin- 
ciple should  have  the  spirit  so  strongly  tempered  as  to 
sustain  the  terrible  conflict  in  which  they  are  engaged. 
If  they  be  feeble,  there  will  be  no  struggle,  and  if  there  be 
no  struggle,  there  will  not  be  a  revolution.  If  then  they 
represent  the  conquered  principle,  they  have  a  right  not 
only  to  be  honored  by  posterity  for  their  courage,  but  also 
to  be  venerated  by  reason  of  the  pains  of  their  martyrdom. 
It  is  true  that  to  this  double  dignity  only  those  can  aspire, 
who  through  sufficient  personal  valor,  or  by  reason  of  cir- 
cumstances, so  closely  allied  themselves  to  their  great  and 
dangerous  principle,  that  their  ruin  entails  that  of  their 
principle,  and  soon  the  struggle  disappears  to  give  place 
to  the  easy  and  successive  conquests  of  the  victor.  Now, 
of  the  three  aforesaid  revolutions  that  alone  in  which  the 
Priesthood  was  excluded  from  the  State,  seems  to  offer  the 
wonderful  man  of  whom  we  speak.  In  that  of  the  bar- 
barbians,  pagan  Rome  did  not  have  a  respresentative  who 
identified  himself  with  the  idea  and  represented  it,  and  so 
the  struggle  was  rather  material  than  moral.  In  the 
French  Revolution  Louis  XVI  divided  with  all  the 
crowned  heads  the  hazardous  charge,  and  although  ma- 
terially he  alone  might  be  in  the  hands  of  the  democracy, 
morally  he  was  only  a  member  of  the  great  monarchical 
body,  and  the  king  being  dead,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
principle  was  dead,  but  living. 

Boniface  alone  by  the  loftiness  of  his  courage,  as  well 
as  by  reason  of  his  office  as  head  of  the  Church,  in  which 
the  monarchy  is  universal,  so  closely  identified  himself 
with  the  principle  of  the  civil  priesthood,  that  it  died  with, 
him.  That  is  what  we  shall  show  when  at  the  end  of  this 
history  we  shall  have  related  the  great  revolution  in  which 
the  conquered  idea  was  so  magnanimously  represented  by 
this  Pontiff.  Having  thus  spoken  of  the  moral  and  politi- 
cal conditions  in  which  Boniface  is  necessarily  placed, 
when  we  call  upon  him  to  render  to  the  men  of  our  own 
times  an  account  of  his  administration,  we  have  perhaps 
aroused  great  anxiety  in  the  soul  of  those  who  think  (and 


20  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

we  are  of  that  number)  that  the  civil  ministry  of  the 
Koman  Pontificate  still  continues.  We  have  said,  in  fact, 
that  Boniface  carried  this  ministry  with  him  to  the  tomb; 
it  would  seem  then,  that  since  that  time  the  successors  of 
St.  Peter  have  found  on  his  chair  only  the  keys  to  close 
and  open  heaven,  and  no  longer  the  sceptre  of  that  power, 
objective  in  Christianity,  subjective  in  the  Papacy,  which 
secures  everything  by  the  reconciliation  of  the  contrary 
elements  in  the  human  family.  Yet  it  is  not  so.  The  ob- 
jective idea  never  dies,  it  is  eternal  like  God.  The  Papacy 
can  lose  the  exercise  of  civil  power,  which  depends  upon 
the  mutability  of  human  things,  but  in  itself  this  power  is 
immutable ;  it  will  last  as  long  as  the  Church,  always  ready 
to  resume  its  influence  over  civil  society,  the  moment 
Providence  commands  it  or  the  misery  of  humanity  arouses 
this  beneficent  power  to  action. 

In  the  human  individual,  life  is  sustained  by  reason  tem- 
pering the  spiritual  and  corporal  forces;  so  the  race  is 
kept  alive  by  the  reconciliation  of  power  and  liberty  de- 
rived from  the  supreme  reason,  which  is  God.  This  su- 
preme reason  presides  over  the  opposing  factions,  and 
while  it  unmoved  is  a  spectator  of  the  combat,  at  times 
it  intervenes,  and  balancing  their  forces,  preserves  them 
from  death  and  makes  them  live.  This  supreme  conciliat- 
ing reason  is  determined  by  the  Roman  Pontificate  (we 
speak  to  Catholics),  and  through  it  it  is  known,  and  scat- 
ters its  benefits  among  men.  And  just  as  human  reason 
in  the  individual,  and  the  supreme  in  the  universe  permit 
evil,  without  losing  anything  of  their  power  so  the  author- 
ity of  the  pontificate,  the  voice,  as  we  have  said,  of  this 
sovereign  reason  which  conciliates  the  opposing  interests, 
is  not  changed  in  nature  because  of  accidental  circum- 
stances which  may  arrest  the  course  of  its  subjective 
power.  We  may  remark  here,  that  an  arbiter  who  is 
charged  with  the  duty  of  conciliating  two  adversaries, 
must  be  free  from  their  faults;  for  by  identifying  himself 
with  one  of  them  by  these  faults,  and  for  that  reason 
repelling  the  other,  he  would  become  unfit  for  his  office 
of  conciliator.  All  human  history  is  but  the  development 
of  this  struggle  of  opposing  elements  viewed  by  the  su- 
preme reason,  and  the  revolutions  are  the  victories  which 
the  opponents  gain  the  one  over  the  other. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  21 

Boniface  personified  the  supreme  pontificate  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  14th  century.  Behind  him  lay  the  infancy  of 
human  society,  or  the  Middle  Ages;  before  him  this  same 
society  full-grown,  or  the  Renaissance.  It  has  been  said  of 
a  great  man  that  he  was  seated  as  arbiter  between  two 
centuries;  greater  than  he,  Boniface  took  the  position  of 
arbiter  between  two  vast  epochs.  He  combated  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  tyranny  of  princes,  and  in  the  Renaissance 
the  indocility  of  the  people,  who  emboldened  by  youth, 
sought  to  be  freed  from  a  guardianship  which  they  con- 
sidered useless,  unbecoming  and  hurtful  to  their  own 
liberty,  and  besieged  the  papal  throne  with  the  demand, 
like  the  prodigal  son  in  the  Gospel :  "  Give  me  the  portion 
of  substance  that  falleth  to  me."  A  youthful  error  this  it 
is  true,  yet  one  which  wounded  sorely  the  fatherly  affec- 
tion of  the  Papacy,  and  which  recoiled  heavily  on  the 
head  of  the  proud  guilty  ones.  In  Boniface  the  Papacy 
vexed  in  front  by  the  bold  bearing  of  the  Renaissance,  har- 
rassed  behind  by  a  force  unfriendly  to  it  and  to  the  peo- 
ple, saw  its  guardianship  cease.  It  mourned  not  for  itself, 
but  for  the  youthful  and  over-confident  humanity,  and  it 
asked  pardon  for  it  from  Christ,  as  for  him  who  knows 
not  what  he  does.  Henceforth  the  time  of  guardianship 
had  passed;  and  the  people  became  impatient  to  measure 
their  strength  with  power.  But  in  the  tomb  of  Boniface, 
where  the  pontifical  guardianship  lay  buried,  dwells  un- 
changeable the  right  of  its  conciliating  power.  Men,  in 
fact,  can  refuse  it  recognition  but  not  destroy  it;  and  in 
the  fatigue  of  the  struggle,  in  the  sterility  of  the  means 
employed  by  both  parties  to  come  to  an  agreement,  the 
consciousness  of  this  holy  power  will  ever  live  and  rule, 
the  preserver  of  contending  elements  which  she  concili- 
ates, in  justice. 

It  is  clear  to  all  how  Pope  Boniface  VIII,  viewed  in  the 
exercise  of  this  sublime  ministry,  becomes  the  subject  of  a 
most  important  history.  At  the  first  glance  all  the  faults 
with  which  he  was  reproached,  and  upon  which  alone  he 
has  been  judged,  become  diminished  and  disappear.  So 
instead  of  beginning  by  replying  to  the  accusations  of 
simony,  of  excessive  and  gross  ambition  which  were 
brought  against  him,  wre  shall  conduct  the  reader  to  him 
by  another  way,  in  order  to  have  the  reader  study  him  in 


22  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  very  sanctuary  of  this  providential  reason,  into  which 
those  never  penetrate  who,  arresting  their  view  on  the 
mere  surface  of  human  events,  obtain  but  an  incomplete 
knowledge  upon  which  they  base  their  invectives  and  their 
maledictions. 

To  rightly  estimate  the  character  of  the  Pontiff,  whose 
life  we  are  about  to  relate,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  glance 
rapidly  over  certain  events  which  took  place  before  his 
time  and  which  influenced  his  education.  For  no  one  can 
doubt  that  though  we  owe  to  nature  the  endowment  of  our 
character,  the  circumstances  of  the  times  contribute  much 
to  form  it.  That  was  a  wise  and  salutary  move  on  the  part 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  to  keep  at  a  distance  from  their  see 
the  imperial  power,  in  order  to  give  more  space  to  that  of 
the  Church  which  strives,  without  ceasing,  to  extend  itself 
to  the  uttermost  limits  of  the  earth. 

Alexander  III  made  the  Lombard  republics  his  ad- 
vanced ramparts,  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  which 
Innocent  III  preserved  with  so  much  care  for  his  ward, 
Frederick  II,  was  to  serve  as  the  last  bulwark  and  refuge 
in  time  of  danger.  But  this  double  combination,  an  in- 
spiration of  deep  wisdom,  failed  of  its  intent.  In  fact  the 
republics,  after  having  used  their  strength  against  the 
foreigner  Barbarossa,  turned  it  against  one  another,  and 
prepared  the  way  for  the  domination  of  many  masters;  on 
his  part,  Frederick  II,  from  a  king  having  become  em- 
peror, annexed  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  to  the  empire.  The 
remedy  then  increased  the  evil  which  the  Popes  had  hoped 
to  avert;  for  the  Emperor  who  formerly  had  to  fear  the 
Lombards  or  the  Normans  in  Sicily,  now  settled  himself 
there  as  in  his  own  home,  and  from  there,  as  from  a 
citadel,  thundered  against  Rome.  There  was  no  more 
waiting  for  the  German  armies  to  cross  the  Alps;  they 
were  camping  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  and  the  Pope,  who, 
up  to  that  time,  had  been  apprised  of  the  impieties  of  the 
imperial  power  only  by  letter  or  legate,  saw  them  with 
his  own  eyes.  Innocent  had  intended  to  make  Frederick 
only  a  vassal  king  of  the  Holy  See;  but  Frederick  pro- 
claimed himself  emperor  as  if  he  had  been  an  independent 
sovereign.  So  this  proximity  served  to  add  prominence  to 
the  struggle  between  the  Priesthood  and  the  Empire,  and 
to  increase  the  perils  of  the  Papacy. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  23 

Frederick  would  perhaps  have  carried  into  effect  the 
terrible  imperial  idea,  and  would  have  himself  reduced  the 
rights  of  the  Church  to  that  sad  state  into  which  they  were 
afterwards  precipitated  by  the  work  of  Philip  the  Fair  of 
France,  if  he  had  tempered  the  roughness  of  his  German 
nature  with  the  cunning  and  dissimulation  which  he  per- 
ceived in  the  southern  countries  where  he  was  educated, 
and  which  he  made  use  of  more  than  once  in  dealing  with 
the  Roman  pontiffs.  But  he  broke  out  against  the  Church 
after  the  manner  of  Nero,  and  showed  no  respect  for  the 
religious  convictions,  which  at  that  time  were  the  most 
solemn  expression  of  the  religion  itself.  These  faults  be- 
came more  conspicuous  when  contrasted  with  the  virtues 
of  St.  Louis,  king  of  France.  Besides,  the  other  princes, 
not  wishing  to  assume  the  role  of  vassals,  became  alarmed 
at  the  doctrine  fabricated  by  the  jurists  of  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  which  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  the  resurrection 
of  the  empire  of  Augustus  in  the  German  emperors  and  to 
establish  in  their  favor  a  universal  monarchy.  This  is 
the  reason  why  in  the  first  council  of  Lyons,  Thaddeus  of 
Suessia,  the  defender  of  Frederick,  \vas  received  so  coldly 
by  the  assembly,  and  the  sentence  of  excommunication  and 
the  deposition  hurled  against  the  emperor  by  Innocent  IV 
was  received  without  objection  by  the  other  kings. 

The  formidable  imperial  power  so  baneful  to  the  Church 
can  be  said  to  have  died  with  Frederick,  and  yet  that 
which  seemed  to  point  to  a  lasting  victory  for  the  Church 
prepared  its  overthrow.  The  inconstant  loyalty  of  the 
Neapolitans  and  the  rivalries  which  sprang  up  among  the 
sons  of  Frederick  relieved  the  minds  of  the  popes ;  the  easy 
victories  over  Manfred,  and  the  increasing  moral  deca- 
dence of  the  imperial  dignity  after  the  death  of  this  em- 
peror, made  the  popes  descend  from  lofty  views  which  they 
had  displayed  in  their  ministry  and  to  which  the  greatness 
and  dignity  of  the  enemy  whom  they  fought  had  raised 
them.  Therefore  the  war  which  they  carried  on,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  against  the  last  remnant  of  the  house 
of  Suabia,  excluded  from  the  throne  by  the  sentence  of  the 
Council  of  Lyons,  and  the  results  of  this  war,  can  be  con- 
sidered as  a  new  period  of  facts  which  begins  with  the 
death  of  Frederick. 

The  last  will  of  this  emperor  and  the  sovereign  dominion 


24  HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  vm. 

of  the  Pope  over  this  country  were  the  subject  of  the  dis- 
cord. Although  it  is  true  the  pontiffs  defended  there  with 
the  rights  and  patrimony  of  the  Church  their  own  liberty, 
yet  we  must  admit  that  the  contest  had  diminished  and  did 
not  assume  the  proportions  of  the  gigantic  and  heroic 
combats  of  Alexander  III  and  Gregory  IX.  Nevertheless 
it  is  to  be  equally  maintained  that  the  popes,  engaged  in 
the  affairs  of  the  narrow  space  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
and  Sicily,  exercised  an  influence  over  all  the  thrones  of 
Europe  by  making  sparkle  the  royal  crown  which  they 
held  in  their  hands,  and  by  looking  about  to  find  a  prince 
worthy  to  wear  it.  The  events  which  were  taking  place  in 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  were  as  the  center  whence  the 
movement  started  which  put  the  princes  in  communication 
with  one  another  and  with  the  Church.  If  Naples  and 
Sicily  had  been  suited  for  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment ;  if  for  a  long  time  the  people  had  not  been  taught  to 
live  under  monarchical  rule  by  the  laws,  by  the  civil  in- 
stitutions, and  by  the  manifest  splendor  of  those  who  up 
to  that  time  had  worn  the  crown,  perhaps  the  popes  might 
have  preserved  a  supreme  sovereignty  over  that  kingdom; 
a  conciliatory  protectorate,  or  immediate  government  by 
some  one  appointed  by  them,  could  have  cast  in  the  shade 
those  quarrels  always  so  dangerous  to  which  hereditary 
pretentious  are  wont  to  give  rise.  But  even  though  they 
had  desired  it,  they  could  not  have  accomplished  it  for  the 
aforesaid  reasons;  and  they  had  to  intrust  to  others  the 
sovereignty  which  they  could  not  without  difficulty  pre- 
serve among  an  excited  people,  who  were  aroused  at  first 
by  the  liberty  of  choice  among  the  parties,  and  later  on 
by  the  necessity  of  defending  their  own  rights. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  summoned  by  the  Pope,  came  to  rule 
over  Naples  and  Sicily.  He  was  a  prince  poor  in  worldly 
goods,  but  of  boundless  ambition.  Seated  on  an  unex- 
pected throne,  he  should  have  made  for  himself  an  in- 
violable law  of  respecting  the  rights  of  the  Church  and 
those  of  the  people  the  direction  of  whom  she  had  confided 
to  him.  He  proposed  to  violate  both,  because  they  were 
incompatible  with  his  desire  of  acquiring  unbridled  power. 
He  made  open  war  against  the  Sicilians;  but  against  the 
Church  the  adversity  of  circumstances,  and  not  moderation 
of  spirit  bound  him  to  secret  attacks.  He  had  always  to 


HISTORY   OP   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  25 

fight  in  Peter  of  Aragon  and  the  Sicilian  people,  two  pow- 
erful adversaries  who  kept  him  manifesting  an  apparent 
respect  for  Home.  Rome  and  justice  were  powerless  to 
resist  him,  and  he  changed  his  dominion  into  a  tyranny. 
Charles  overthrowing  the  sacred  rampart  of  this  double 
authority,  is  the  entire  history  that  educated  the  mind  of 
Benedict  Gaetani,  and  prepared  the  pontificate  of  Boni- 
face VIII. 

To  us  who  judge  the  causes  by  the  effects,  that  plan  of 
the  Popes  in  calling  a  foreign  prince  to  rule  over  the  south- 
ern part  of  Italy,  certainly  does  not  appear  salutary  or 
wise.  It  resulted  in  nothing  else,  but  furnishing  the 
French  against  their  will  with  means  to  increase  the  evils 
which  the  Germans  had  already  brought  upon  the  unfortu- 
nate people  of  Sicily.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Papacy 
needed  an  armed  and  powerful  defender;  but  Alexander  III 
had  found  how  to  clothe  the  papal  power  with  a  breast- 
plate of  iron,  by  making  himself  the  soul  of  the  Lombard 
League,  preferring  rather  to  engage  as  defenders  the  peo- 
ple whose  liberty  he  had  protected  rather  than  the  princes 
to  whom  he  had  given  sovereignties. 

When  the  last  scion  of  the  house  of  the  Hohenstaufens, 
the  young  Conradin,  drawn  into  the  kingdom  of  Naples  by 
a  sort  of  fatality,  had  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  the 
Angevine  butcher,  Charles  aspired  to  a  power  which  sur- 
passed exceedingly  the  limits  marked  out  by  Clement  IV. 
The  favor  of  the  Roman  See,  and  the  condition  of  his 
kingdom,  furnished  him,  more  than  any  other  prince  of  his 
time,  with  the  means  of  gratifying  his  desire.  Northern 
and  Central  Italy  by  reason  of  the  sudden  overthrow  of 
the  Ghibellines,  offered  him  in  the  triumph  of  the  Guelphs, 
at  the  head  of  wrhich  he  could  have  placed  himself  as  the 
champion  of  the  Church,  an  arm  by  which  to  secure  for 
himself  an  Italian  principality.  The  sea  which  surrounds 
Sicily  and  so  benignly  bathes  the  vast  coast  of  the  Neapoli- 
tan country,  offered  him  the  occasion  of  increasing  his 
power  by  a  naval  force,  and  of  extending  his  conquests, 
under  the  pretext  of  a  crusade,  along  the  coasts  of  Africa 
towards  the  weak  Byzantium  and  the  regions  of  the 
Levant.  In  1267  by  a  promise  of  aid  to  Baldwin  II,  Em- 
peror of  Constantinople,  he  obtained  from  him  the  princi- 
pality of  Achaia  and  all  the  country  which  the  Latins  still 


26  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

occupied.  Coveting  with  an  insatiable  gaze  the  very 
throne  of  Constantine,  he  gave  his  daughter  Beatrice  in 
marriage  to  Philip  the  only  son  of  Baldwin.  So  thanks  to 
these  matrimonial  alliances,  bargains  familiar  to  princes, 
he  had  established  a  remote  right  to  the  throne,  which 
made  Michael  Paleologus  fear.  If  the  opportunity  was 
great,  the  knowledge  of  it  and  the  will  to  use  it  were  no 
less  important.  He  knew  it,  and  embraced  it,  whilst  the 
popes  believed  him  modestly  engaged  in  studying  his  di- 
ploma of  investiture.  However  when  in  May  1265, 
Charles  entered  Rome,  and  haughtily  lodged  himself  with 
his  knights  in  the  papal  palace  of  the  Lateran  without  the 
permission  of  Clement,  it  was  very  evident  that  his  eyes 
dazzled  by  the  crown  about  to  descend  on  his  head,  saw  no 
longer  the  hand  which  bestowed  it.  Clement  protested 
forcibly  against  this  want  of  respect ; x  but  his  mind  did 
not  penetrate  the  depth  of  this  audacious  proceeding. 

But  what  contributed  to  raise  Charles  the  sooner  to  that 
height  of  power  which  he  reached,  was  the  vacancy  in  the 
Roman  See  which  lasted  two  years  and  six  months.  Our 
readers  would  do  well  to  remark  here  that  after  the  arrival 
of  the  Count  of  Anjou,  these  prolonged  vacancies  became 
very  frequent.  In  virtue  of  his  office  as  senator  of  Rome, 
he  exercised  the  sovereignty  in  that  city  and  over  all  the 
patrimony  of  the  Church;  moreover  he  concentrated  in 
himself  all  the  indirect  power  of  the  popes  over  the  Italian 
cities.  Never  have  factions  greater  need  of  a  chief  than  in 
time  of  prosperity  and  victory.  Now  the  Guelphs  not  find- 
ing any  longer  in  the  See  of  St.  Peter  their  natural  head, 
all  turned  to  Charles  as  their  assured  protector.  So  great 
was  the  confidence  of  Charles  that  in  the  diet  of  Cremona, 
which  he  had  held  by  the  Guelphs  of  Lombardy,  and  pre- 
sided over  by  his  envoys,  he  humbly  requested  them  to 
name  him  their  chief,  which  word  did  not  sound  like  lord. 
The  principal  towns  of  Lombardy  and  Piedmont  acceded 
to  his  wishes;  but  the  people  of  Monferrato  openly  re- 
fused and  said ;  "  that  they  would  receive  Charles  as  a 
Friend,  but  as  a  lord  never."  The  ready  compliance  of  so 
many  cities  proceeded  from  the  extinction  of  that  noble 
consciousness  of  their  own  liberty  which  had  been  so  ex- 
alted during  the  wars  against  Barbarossa;  then  too,  the 

1Kaynaldus.    Annal.  Eccl.  Epistola  ad  Carolum  1265-12. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  27 

long  prosperity  of  the  Ghibelline  party  in  permitting 
Ezelino  da  Romano,  Albert  Pallavacini,  and  Buoso  da 
Doara  to  exercise  sovereignty  over  them,  had  already  ac- 
customed their  minds  to  the  idea  of  servitude.  Democ- 
racy died  with  the  League,  aristocracy  was  consolidated 
under  Frederick  II,  and  from  aristocracy  to  a  monarchy 
was  an  easy  passage  which  Charles  tried. 

He  did  not  have  to  negotiate  much  with  Tuscany;  ap- 
pointed by  the  Pope  imperial  vicar  of  this  country,  by 
virtue  of  this  title  he  obtained  for  ten  years  his  sovereignty 
over  Florence.  This  was  the  reason  of  the  change  which 
this  city  underwent  in  its  governmental  constitution,  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  Ghibellines.  It  increased  the  number 
of  the  advisory  counsels,  curtailing  thereby  the  power  of 
the  noblemen  of  the  city;  it  augmented  the  power  of  the 
people,  and,  by  the  over  difficult  distribution  of  this  power, 
it  enkindled  in  their  breasts  the  fire  of  lamentable  rival- 
ries, the  cause  of  cruel  broils  between  the  nobles  and  the 
populace.  These  dissensions  could  have  opened  to  Charles 
a  way  to  sovereignty  over  the  ruins  of  the  republic;  but 
the  opportunity  escaped  him,  and  all  the  effect  of  these 
deadly  discords  was  to  destroy  the  Guelph  party  by  di- 
viding it  into  the  Whites  and  the  Blacks,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence to  deprive  the  Roman  Pontiff  of  his  greatest  sup- 
port, and  to  remotely  prepare  the  decline  of  the  Florentine 
the  elevation  of  the  Guelphs,  in  order  that  he  as  the  head 
had  for  their  object  the  suppression  of  the  Ghibellines,  and 
republic.  The  efforts  then  of  Charles  throughout  Italy 
of  the  latter  might  rule  over  all  Italy.  But  it  was  not  for 
this  purpose  that  the  popes  had  called  him. 

Finally  Theobald  Visconti  became  Pope  under  the  name 
of  Gregory  X.  He  was  a  holy  man,  and  he  would  have 
more  willingly  passed  his  days  as  a  crusader  in  the  Holy 
Land,  than  in  the  Apostolic  See.  He  saw  at  first  in  the 
ambition  of  Charles  no  other  inconvenience  than  the  end- 
less duration  of  the  war  on  account  of  exasperating  the 
Ghibellines;  but  when  he  wished  to  remedy  affairs,  he 
found  this  prince  a  very  wicked  son  of  Holy  Church.  In 
fact  when  Gregory  was  in  Florence  to  effect  a  peace  be- 
tween the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  the  marshal  of  the 
king  threatened  with  death  and  drove  back  the  pontifical 
legates  who  were  obliged  to  depart,  leaving  matters  in  the 


28  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

same  condition  as  they  were  and  Florence  under  an 
interdict. 

This  Pope  had  dearest  to  his  heart  the  conquest  of  the 
Holy  Land,  and  as  a  consequence  the  reunion  of  the  schis- 
matic Greeks  to  the  Latin  Church.  To  the  attainment  of 
this  he  directed  all  his  energies.  During  the  whole  of  his 
pontificate  Gregory  cherished  the  project  of  a  new  crusade, 
and  in  order  to  bring  it  and  the  reunion  of  the  Greek 
Church  to  the  Latin  more  prominently  before  the  people  of 
Christendom,  he  convoked  the  fourteenth  oecumenical 
council,  the  second  of  Lyons.  Though  Charles  did  not 
interfere  with  the  project  directly,  he  began  to  obstruct  it 
indirectly  by  his  ambitious  designs.  The  peace  and  good 
will  which  the  Pope  ordered  his  legates  to  preach  in  all 
the  Italian  cities,  and  the  most  ardent  desire  he  had  of 
numbering  among  his  flock  the  schismatic  Michael  Paleo- 
logus,  were  displeasing  to  the  Angevine.  He  did  not  wish 
peace,  because  it  deprived  him  of  the  exaltation  of  the 
triumphant  Guelphs  which  was  useful  to  him;  and  by  no 
means  did  he  wish  the  conversion  of  the  Greek  prince.  If 
Michael  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  Charles 
could  not,  without  ceasing  to  be  a  devoted  son  of  the 
Church,  wage  that  war  against  him  which  he  meditated  in 
order  to  usurp  the  throne  of  Byzantium.  Paleologus,  en- 
dowed with  that  shrewdness  which  distinguishes  his  coun- 
try-men, perceived  this  consequence,  and  was  forced  to 
reenter  the  fold  of  Christ,  and  to  shelter  himself  behind 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  making  use  of  it  as  a  rampart  against 
the  power  of  Charles.  In  the  fourth  session  of  the  Council 
of  Lyons  Gregory  shed  tears  of  joy  and  consolation  over 
the  conversion  of  the  Greeks;  and  we  can  believe  that 
Charles  shed  tears  of  grief  and  madness.  Every  one  knows 
how  quickly  this  apparent  conversion  was  effected,  and 
how  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  successors  of  Paleologus, 
made  use  of  this  same  cunning  when  they  were  threatened 
no  longer  by  the  Christians,  but  by  the  Turks. 

This  Pope  in  the  innocence  of  his  design,  caused  king 
Charles  another  vexation,  the  consequences  of  which  he 
was  ignorant,  and  it  was  the  friendly  relations  he  estab- 
lished with  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  created  by  the  electors 
king  of  the  Romans.  Requested  by  the  ambassadors  to 
confirm  this  election  Gregory,  after  having  received  from 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  29 

Rudolph  the  oath  of  obedience  and  fidelity  to  the  Roman 
See,  not  only  confirmed  him  as  king,  but  even  wrote  most 
eagerly  in  his  behalf  to  many  princes  and  even  to  Charles 
in  order  to  establish  friendly  relations  towards  him. 
Moreover  he  notified  Rudolph  by  letter  to  hold  himself  in 
readiness  to  receive  the  imperial  crown;  and  to  repair  as 
soon  as  possible  to  the  place  he  would  designate,  where 
they  would  meet  and  confer.  In  fact  the  Pope  and  Ru- 
dolph met  at  Lausanne,  and  warmly  embraced  each  other. 
Rudolph  swore  again  to  preserve  all  the  property  of  the 
Church,  to  defend  all  her  rights  especially  those  which  she 
held  over  Sicily,  and  to  go  as  a  crusader  to  the  Holy  Land. 
The  Emperor  drew  nigh  to  the  Pope,  but  not  the  Empire 
to  the  Church.  However  these  friendly  feelings  went  to 
the  heart  of  Charles.  He  was  unwilling  to  have  any  one 
else  divide  with  him  the  pious  office  of  defender  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  he  did  not  care  to  see  the  imperial  power  in 
Italy  for  the  reason  that  it  would  frustrate  his  designs. 
Nor  did  he  reason  wrongly.  For  the  subdued  Ghibellines 
turned  to  Rudolph,  as  to  a  support  by  which  to  revive  their 
hopes.  They  rushed  to  him,  and  recalled  to  his  mind  the 
old  theories  of  the  rights  of  the  German  Empire  over  poor 
Italy.  We  do  not  know  whether  in  the  interview  at  Lau- 
sanne Gregory  openly  manifested  to  the  Emperor  elect  his 
displeasure  at  the  actions  of  Charles,  nor  whether  he  en- 
couraged him  to  fill  his  office  in  the  affairs  of  Naples  and 
Sicily;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  oath  taken  to  defend  par- 
ticularly the  rights  of  the  Church  over  Sicily  must  have 
been  engendered  from  a  conversation  over  the  insolence  of 
Charles  of  Anjou.  In  a  word  a  great  rivalry  ensued  be- 
tween Charles  and  Rudolph,  which  would  have  been  a 
weapon  in  the  hand  of  a  more  able  pontiff  to  humble  the 
over-proud  Charles. 

The  pious  and  peaceful  Gregory  being  dead,  fortune  con- 
tinued to  smile  on  the  ambitious  projects  of  Charles,  and 
the  Pontiffs  Innocent  V,  Adrian  V,  and  John  XXI,  who 
succeeded  Gregory,  placed  no  obstacles  in  his  way.  Under 
the  latter  he  even  saw  added  to  the  crown  of  Sicily  that  of 
Jerusalem,  bestowed  upon  him  by  Maria  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Behemond  IV,  prince  of  Antioch.  Sanuto  relates 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  papal  curia  assisted  at  the  act 
of  donation  to  which  many  cardinals  subscribed  their 


30  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill. 

names.2  And  this  was  not  an  empty  title,  for  he  soon  took 
possession  of  Ptolomais,  through  Count  Koger  of  St.  Sev- 
erino  aided  by  the  Knights  Templar. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  more  he  advanced  in  power,  the 
more  he  oppressed  the  realm  entrusted  to  him  by  the 
Church  to  rule.  His  victory  over  Conradin  summoned  by 
the  despair  of  the  inhabitants,  made  him  bolder,  and 
changed  his  rule  into  a  unbridled  tyranny.  Such  was  his 
conduct  from  the  beginning  of  his  reign  and  we  do  not  per- 
ceive that  any  pope  made  an  effort  to  restrain  him.  Yet 
the  popes  should  have  opened  their  eyes  to  this  French 
predominance,  not  only  through  pity  for  the  oppressed 
people  but  also  because  the  latter  in  their  fury  to  relieve 
themselves  of  the  yoke,  could  involve  in  one  and  the  same 
ruin  as  did  really  happen  the  rights  of  the  vassal  prince, 
and  those  of  the  sovereign  Church.  In  fine  the  compacts 
swore  to  by  Charles  at  the  time  of  receiving  the  investiture 
of  the  kingdom  from  Clement  were  formally  violated. 

The  clever  Cardinal  Orsini,  under  the  name  of  Nicholas 
III  ascended  the  papal  throne.  Less  pious  than  Gregory 
X,  he  did  not  occupy  his  mind  so  much  with  the  affairs  of 
the  Holy  Land,  as  with  those  which  encompassed  him  at 
home;  and  so  he  set  out  to  clip  the  wings  of  Charles. 
Among  the  conditions  to  which  the  latter  had  sworn  were 
those  of  not  meddling  in  the  government  of  Tuscany  and 
of  Lombardy,3  and  of  not  accepting  any  office  as  ruler  or 
governor  in  the  states  of  the  Church.  The  first  condition 
he  shamefully  violated;  from  the  obligation  of  the  other 
he  was  freed  by  Clement  himself,  who  was  still  in  such 
fear  of  the  house  of  Suabia  that  in  order  to  have  Charles 
near  him,  he  created  him  a  senator  of  Rome.  Pope  Nicho- 
las wanted  to  enforce  on  Charles  the  observance  of  these 
two  clauses;  and  being  a  man  skilled  in  affairs  he  so 
worked  on  the  minds  of  Rudolph,  king  of  the  Romans,  and 
of  Charles,  that  while  he  was  ardently  arranging  peace 
between  them,  and  striving  to  unite  them  also  by  the  bond 
of  relationship,  he  made  use  of  the  German  prince  to  hold 
Charles  in  awe.  A  war  in  Italy  between  them  would  have 

9  Lib.  13.     C.  15.     Par.  12. 

* "  Vel  intromittatis  vos  ullo  modo  de  regimine  ipsius  imperii,  vel  regni 
Romanorum,  seu  Theutoniae,  aut  Lombardiae,  eeu  Tusciae  vel  major  is 
partis  earum." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  31 

been  injurious  to  the  Church.  A  victory  for  Rudolph 
would  revive  the  fear  of  the  imperial  power,  and  the  tri- 
umph of  the  Ghibellines;  his  defeat  would  give  Charles 
unlimited  power.  Peace,  on  the  contrary,  by  holding  the 
two  princes  in  mutual  regard,  gave  an  occasion  to  the  Pope 
to  continue  the  pious  work  of  Gregory  X,  namely  the  con- 
ciliation of  the  factions.  In  fact,  fearing  that  Nicholas  III 
would  proceed  too  far  in  his  friendship  for  the  king  of  the 
Romans,  who  through  desire  for  the  imperial  crown  was 
most  deferential  toward  the  popes,  Charles  submitted  with 
wonderful  docility  to  the  injunction  that  was  laid  upon  him 
to  resign  his  office  of  vicar  of  Tuscany  and  senator  of 
Rome.  It  seems  that  Nicholas  III  was  slow  to  credit  such 
docility,  for  Giordano  relates4  that  he  sent  a  cardinal  to 
observe  what  impression  this  sacrifice  made  on  the  mind 
of  the  king.  Now  Charles  perfectly  dissembled  his  in- 
terior displeasure  by  according  the  pontifical  messenger  a 
most  honorable  reception  and  by  addressing  him  in  terms 
most  affectionate  and  well-chosen.  So  Nicholas,  having 
heard  this,  remarked  that  Charles  received  his  goodness  of 
soul  from  the  house  of  France,  his  sagacity  from  Spain, 
his  mother  being  Blanche  of  Spain,  and  his  discretion  in 
words  from  his  frequent  intercourse  with  the  Roman 
Curia.  This  action  of  Charles,  and  this  appreciation  of 
Nicholas  strikingly  reveal  the  character  of  the  two  men 
and  show  that  they  understood  each  other.  Charles  being 
degraded,  Nicholas  sent  the  German  out  of  Italy.  Yet 
the  imperial  agents  were  known  to  exact  still  the  oath  of 
allegiance  from  the  towns  comprised  in  the  territory  of 
the  Church.  Nicholas  warned  Rudolph  that  according  to 
the  imperial  patents  of  his  predecessors  in  favor  of  the 
papal  see  this  patrimony  extended  from  Rodicofani  to 
Ceprano,  and  that  the  Romagna,  the  Marches  of  Ancona, 
the  Five  Cities,  and  all  the  other  land  contained  in  that 
tract  of  territory,  were  all  ecclesiastical  and  not  German 

* "  Rex  Carolus  privatur  officio  senatoris,  et  eodem  anno  vicaria  Tusciae 
per  eundem  (Nicolaum)  .  .  .  Papa  misit  unum  cardinalem,  qui  patientiam 
regis  tentaret  super  praedictis  sibi  ablatis:  et  audito,  quod  cardinalem 
honorifice  recepisset,  et  modeste  respondisset,  ait:  felicitatem  Carolua 
habet  a  Domo  Franciae,  ingenii  perspicacitatem  a  regno  Hispaniae,  dis- 
cretionem  verborum  a  frequentatione  Romanae  Curiae."  Raynaldua 
1278,69. 


32  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

property.  As  a  result  of  the  documents  subscribed  to  by 
the  Emperor  and  the  Pope,  that  which  was  an  ancient 
right  became  a  fact,5  and  the  Church  enjoys  all  the  terri- 
tory she  possesses  to-day. 

After  Charles  had  been  pushed  back  in  the  confines  of 
his  realm,  the  ecclesiastical  patrimony  was  now  clear  of 
foreigners,  many  cities  were  pacified  by  the  efforts  of 
Cardinal  Latino,  and  thus  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter  felt  itself 
secure  in  its  own  territory  and  the  Pope  who  occupied  it 
thought  of  gathering  from  the  accrued  advantages  salu- 
tary fruit  for  all  Italy.  If  Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  Giordano 
and  Platina  can  be  believed,  Nicholas  and  Rudolph  medi- 
tated a  design  fraught  with  most  serious  consequences  to 
the  future  destinies  of  Italy  and  all  Europe.  The  Pope 
had  conceived  the  project  of  dividing  the  Koman  Empire 
into  four  great  sovereignties:  that  of  Germany  for  Ru- 
dolph and  his  descendants  in  hereditary  succession;  that 
of  Dauphiny  and  a  part  of  ancient  Burgundy  for  demen- 
tia, daughter  of  Rudolph,  and  wife  of  Charles  Martel, 
grandson  of  the  king  of  Sicily  and  their  descendants ;  Italy 
was  to  be  divided  into  two  kingdoms,  that  of  Tuscany  and 
Lombardy,  which  were  to  be  given  respectively  to  the  two 
nephews  of  the  Pope,  the  princes  Orsini.  We  believe  it 
quite  possible  that  such  a  thought  entered  the  mind  of  the 
Pope.  Affairs  in  Italy  were  in  such  a  condition,  and  the 
mutual  interests  of  Nicholas  and  Rudolph  would  thus  have 
been  so  well  consulted  that  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  both 
would  have  agreed  to  this  project.  By  making  a  division 
into  four  monarchies,  namely,  Sicily,  the  States  of  the 
Church,  Tuscany,  and  Lombardy,  Italy  would  be  spared 
the  anguish  of  her  republics,  and  this  multitude  of  Lords 
who  raised  themselves  upon  their  ruins;  her  inhabitants 
would  present  ranks  at  once  closer  and  more  united  against 
the  encroachments  of  foreign  monarchies;  in  fine  they 
would  have  less  to  fear  from  the  imperial  domination  so 
divided.  The  sudden  death  of  Nicholas  frustrated  the  vast 
design. 

After  the  death  of  Nicholas,  Charles  took  new  courage. 
Knowing  how  little  he  might  expect  from  a  pope,  shrewd 
and  watchful,  he  wished  to  create  one  who  would  do  his 
pleasure.  A  son  and  vassal  of  Holy  Church,  he  made  bold 

"Raynaldus  1278,  47  et  seqq. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII,  33 

to  intrude  himself  among  the  cardinals  in  conclave  at 
Viterbo.  He  cast  into  prison  three  cardinals  who  opposed 
his  designs,  and  kept  them  there  on  a  diet  of  bread  and 
water,  until  in  sheer  desperation  they  agreed  with  the  other 
Italian  cardinals  and  voted  for  a  Frenchman  as  pope, 
Cardinal  Simon  de  Brie,  who  took  the  name  of  Martin  IV.6 
Charles  could  not  have  found  another  man  more  devoted 
to  his  interests.  At  one  stroke  all  the  work  of  the  popes 
from  Gregory  X  to  Nicholas  was  undone.  Charles  was 
again  created  a  senator  of  Home,  and  the  government  of 
all  pontifical  towns  was  entrusted  to  Frenchmen,  creatures 
of  this  prince.  Paleologus,  against  whom  Charles  vigor- 
ously pushed  forward  preparations  for  wTar,  was  excom- 
municated. 

No  longer  were  legates  seen  piously  occupied,  as  had 
been  Cardinal  Latino,  in  traveling  through  Italy  to  recon- 
cile the  Guelphs  and  the  Ghibellines,  but  in  their  stead 
sinister  messengers  charged  with  the  destruction  of  the 
latter.  The  rude  repulse  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  Lam- 
bertazzi,  the  first  of  the  Ghibellines  of  the  Romagna  to 
present  themselves  before  Pope  Martin  at  Orvieto  suing 
for  peace,  was  a  cruel  action ;  and  equally  harsh  were  those 
censures  angrily  hurled  against  Forli,  whither  the  Ghibel- 
lines had  retreated.  However,  those  French  agents  such 
as  John  of  Pa,  Count  of  Romagna,  found  a  most  powerful 
obstacle  in  that  eminent  warrior,  the  support  of  the  Ghi- 
bellines, Guy  of  Montefeltro,  who  often  taught  these 
strangers  to  be  a  trifle  more  self-restrained  in  the  land  of 
others.  Unfortunately,  the  Italians  combined  with  these 
strangers,  because  they  were  Guelphs. 

In  the  meantime  unhappy  Sicily  was  in  agony.  Charles 
was  no  longer  under  any  restraint ;  he  was  king  and  pope 
at  the  one  time,  and  the  hour  was  at  hand  when  the  ex- 
cesses of  an  unrestrained  tyranny  drove  the  people  to  have 
recourse  to  the  most  frightful  means  to  end  it.  Power 
and  might  pressed  heavily  upon  them,  but  buoyant  minds 
were  meditating  a  design  to  free  them.  Among  the  suffer- 
ers was  John  of  Procida,  whom  we  consider  unique  in  the 
history  of  those  who  by  one  stroke  have  broken  the  chains 
of  an  oppressed  people.  To  form  domestic  conspiracies,  to 
complete  them  by  a  thrust  of  the  dagger,  is  not  a  rare 

•Record.     Malasp. — John  Villani. 


34  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill. 

thing,  and  the  number  is  great  of  those  who  have  hurled  a 
prince  from  his  throne  by  a  daring  blow;  but  they  could 
not  prevent  a  renewal  of  the  tyranny,  either  in  a  new  prince 
who  ascended  the  vacant  throne,  or  in  the  frenzy  of  a  dis- 
ordered democracy.  But  to  lay  the  wires  of  an  immense 
plot  which  is  at  once  to  restore  those  rights  which  a  de- 
spairing people  had  lost;  to  know  and  employ  the  chiefs 
to  whose  hands  he  must  entrust  the  wires  of  this  vast  net- 
work; to  remain,  despite  impatient  yearnings,  calm  and 
immovable  within  the  limits  of  prudence  and  justice  so  as 
not  to  miss  his  end;  to  prepare  for  a  people  flushed  with 
victory  new  laws  of  government  in  the  shadow  of  which  it 
could  take  breath  and  establish  itself;  in  a  word,  side  by 
side  with  the  tyranny  which  oppressed  it,  during  a  long 
period  to  make  the  power  of  regeneration  march  in  secret 
and  bring  about  its  triumph,  this  was  the  gigantic  labor 
performed  by  John  of  Procida  to  change  the  lot  of  Sicily, 
and  which  entitles  him  to  be  regarded  as  a  genius  truly 
extraordinary.  He  sounded  the  dispositions  of  Paleolo- 
gus,  dismayed  at  the  warlike  preparations  of  Charles,  and 
from  him  received  much  gold.  He  revived  in  Peter  of 
Aragon  the  right  of  sovereignty  over  Sicily  which  he 
claimed  by  reason  of  his  marriage  with  Constance,  the 
daughter  of  Manfred,  the  last  of  the  Hohenstaufens,  and 
from  him  he  received  a  large  quota  of  soldiers.  If  certain 
historians  are  to  be  believed,  it  was  he  who  suggested  to 
Nicholas  III  the  grand  design  of  division,  and  the  wrath 
of  a  people,  downtrodden  and  exasperated,  would  be  joined 
to  the  indignation  which  the  impieties  of  Charles  caused 
the  Pontiff.  It  is  also  said  that  Nicholas  flattered  John 
of  Procida,  and  expected  Sicily  to  give  the  blow  which  the 
arm  of  a  pontiff  could  not  strike.  If  we  do  not  reject 
absolutely  the  current  rumor,  we  can  by  no  means  admit 
as  certain  on  mere  hearsay  this  appalling  solidarity;  but 
we  reject  chiefly  the  reason  assigned  for  it  by  later  writers 
namely,  the  insolent  refusal  by  Charles  to  unite  the  family 
of  Anjou  with  that  of  the  Orsini. 

That  Nicholas,  jealous  and  proud  of  the  glory  of  his 
family,  had  sought  a  royal  alliance  for  it,  which  the 
Frenchman  haughtily  opposed,  we  may  believe;  but  that 
this  pope,  out  of  revenge  for  this  insulting  refusal,  had 
entered  into  the  conspiracy  of  John  of  Procida,  nothing  is 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  35 

more  improbable.  To  deliver  Sicily  from  the  yoke  of 
Charles,  consecrated  by  papal  investiture,  was  an  act 
heroic  in  its  purpose,  which  a  miserable  family  pride  could 
not  have  dictated.  The  death  of  Nicholas  surely  must  have 
been  very  distressing  to  John  of  Procida,  but  it  did  not 
compromise  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  The  Sicilians 
found  a  compensation  for  this  loss  in  their  desperation, 
which  was  extreme  when  they  saw  that  Martin  instead 
of  tightening  the  reins  on  Charles,  only  slackened  them 
the  more.  However,  the  Pope  was  not  ignorant  of  the 
armaments  prepared  by  Peter  of  Aragon,  and  suspected 
the  end  that  the  husband  of  Constance  had  in  view;  yet 
fascinated  as  he  was  to  the  interests  of  Charles,  he  re- 
mained inactive  and  took  no  notice  of  the  clouds  which 
were  gathering  both  within  and  without  Sicily. 

At  length  the  famous  Sicilian  Vespers  were  sounded, 
and  there  was  won  by  the  sword  that  justice  which  had 
been  implored  in  vain  from  the  Pope;  a  diabolical  revenge 
for  a  tyranny  still  more  diabolical.  The  Sicilians  arose  to 
a  man  to  drive  out  the  detested  Angevine,  but  they  re- 
spected the  Church.  In  fact  the  inhabitants  of  Palermo, 
convened  in  an  assembly,  gave  proof  of  moderation  and  of 
a  feeling  altogether  Roman  when  they  took  the  resolution 
to  govern  themselves  in  common  under  the  protection  of 
the  Church,7  and  all  this  in  presence  of  a  tumultuous  peo- 
ple still  disgusting  from  French  blood;  all  this  notwith- 
standing the  thirst  for  revenge  which  devoured  them,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  anxiety  which  their  hearts  experience 
on  recovering  liberty  bought  by  so  much  daring.  They 
separated  the  lost  rights  of  Charles  from  those  of  the 
Church;  and  far  from  confounding  her  with  this  wicked 
prince,  they  requested  her  to  ratify  in  some  way  an  act  to 
which  a  sense  of  natural  justice  had  borne  them,  but  one 
which  the  meekness  of  her  head  could  not  allow  her  to 
undertake  herself.  Most  excellent  dispositions!  Any 
pope  other  than  Martin  would  have  favored  them,  sparing 
thereby  his  successors  the  embarrassment  of  many  affairs 
difficult  to  judge.  After  the  bloody  Sicilian  Vespers 
Martin  clung  more  closely  to  Charles,  and  this  king 
blinded  him  to  the  extent  of  drawing  him  in  his  train  into 
those  perfidious  ways  into  which  his  pride  precipitated 

T  Earth,  de  Neocastro  C.  14— Nicol  Special.     C.  I.  C.  4. 


36  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

him,  and  in  which  he  lost  the  kingdom  of  Sicily.  All  the 
island  was  aroused  and  united  itself  in  an  admirable  re- 
publican federation  under  the  standard  of  the  Holy  Keys. 
The  heroic  defence  of  Messina,  before  which  the  anger  of 
Charles  spent  itself,  demonstrated  to  the  entire  world  that 
the  arms  of  these  people  were  deserving  of  success.  The 
messengers  from  Palermo  presented  themselves  before 
Martin ;  they  asked  forgiveness  for  the  means  they  had  em- 
ployed in  securing  their  freedom,  and  they  implored  the 
protection  of  Holy  Church;  but  their  petition  being  an- 
swered in  a  harsh  and  unbecoming  manner,  they  returned 
home,  and  took  up  arms  not  only  against  Charles,  but  also 
against  the  Church.  And  thus  through  the  fault  of  this 
pope  confounding  the  rights  of  St.  Peter  with  that  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  future  popes  found  themselves  burdened 
with  the  odious  task  of  fighting  a  high-minded  people  to 
sustain  an  unworthy  prince,  because  they  could  not  re- 
cover otherwise  the  right  of  sovereignty  which  the  Church 
possessed  over  Sicily. 

All  these  things  were  witnessed  by  a  certain  man,  Bene- 
dict Gaetani  by  name.  He  was  already  a  member  of  the 
Papal  Curia,  and  called  to  take  part  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  momentous  measures  of  the  times.  Where- 
fore one  thought  entered  deeply  into  his  mind,  and  in- 
structed it  by  facts  that  gave  form  and  character  to  every 
other  thought;  this  thought  was  inspired  by  the  spectacle 
of  the  Church  reduced  to  servitude  not  by  secret  enemies, 
but  by  those  who  called  themselves  her  children  and  her 
vassals,  the  Church  obliged  to  act  despite  appearances  the 
most  odious  which  could  be  understood  only  by  calm  and 
far-removed  discerners  of  the  events  that  went  before. 

Anagni,  a  most  ancient  city,  once  the  chief  seat  of  the 
Hernici,  is  situated  in  that  part  of  Italy  that  is  called  the 
Campagna.  It  has  a  charming  location  on  the  summit  of 
a  hill  at  the  foot  of  the  Apennines  which  extend  towards 
Rome,  and  embrace,  with  the  mountains  of  Piperno  and  of 
Sezze,  facing  the  sea-coast  of  Terracina,  the  fertile  Anagni 
valley.  After  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  it  was  the 
most  renowned  city  in  this  Cistiberine  part  of  the  Papal 
States  which  bordered  on  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  At  the 
time  in  which  the  events  of  our  history  were  happening 
it  had  already  been  the  birthplace  of  three  pontiffs,  In- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  37 

nocent  III,  Gregory  IX,  and  Alexander  IV,  and  they  con- 
tributed to  its  splendor.  It  was  also  the  seat  of  very 
illustrious  families,  namely  the  Ceccani,  the  Tusculani, 
the  Frangipani,  the  Collemedio,  Annibaldeschi,  and  great- 
est of  all  the  families  of  the  Counts  of  Segni  and  the 
Gaetani.8  Whence  the  latter  had  come  to  Anagni,  whether 
they  were  the  same  family  as  the  Gaetani  of  Gaeta,  to 
which  Gelasius  II  belonged,  we  do  not  know;  and  as  the 
reader  cares  to  learn  only  of  the  deeds  of  Boniface,  we 
shall  not  impose  on  him  a  treatise  on  the  origin  and  descent 
of  the  family.  In  the  thirteenth  century  Loffredo  Gaetani, 
son  of  Matthias,  had  been  a  captain  in  the  army  of  King 
Manfred;  he  married  one  of  the  Conti  family,  niece  of 
Alexander  IV,9  by  whom  he  had  many  children,  among 
them  Benedict,  the  subject  of  this  history.  We  do  not 
know  in  what  year  he  was  born,  but  it  is  certain  that  his 
birth  took  place  in  the  thirteenth  century  about  the  second 
or  third  decade.  Osius  and  Rossi  aver  that  he  lived  86 
years,  basing  their  opinions  upon  the  fact  that  in  the  year 
1255  he  accompanied  the  legate  Cardinal  Fiesco  as  secre- 
tary.10 Before  this  time,  in  Rome,  he  exercised  the  office 
of  an  advocate.  Now  supposing  that  he  exercised  this 
office  and  accompanied  the  legate  in  mature  age  that  is 
to  say,  at  thirty  or  forty  years,  it  is  then  clear  that  he 
must  have  been  born  in  the  second  or  third  decade  of  the 
century.  From  his  childhood  he  inspired  his  parents  with 
great  hopes  by  the  keenness  of  his  dawning  intellect  and 
by  his  fiery  soul,  a  possession  common  to  all  the  Italians  of 
those  times,  who  under  a  rough  exterior  possessed  hearts 
capable  of  performing  noble  deeds.  Great-souled  fathers, 
of  a  now  degenerate  race,  then  begot  great-souled  sons. 
To  be  instructed  in  piety  and  learning  he  was  sent  to  a 
monastery  of  the  Friars  Minor  at  Velletri,  and  was  en- 
trusted to  the  care  of  Friar  Leonard  Patrasso,  his  uncle.11 
Benedict  Gaetani  always  remembered  these  first  years  of 
his  life  and  showed  his  gratitude  both  towards  the  Friars, 
by  heaping  favors  upon  them  and  by  appointing  in  1300  a 
cardinal  from  their  order,  which  he  greatly  favored,  and 

•Cayro.     History  of  the  city  of  Anagni,  p.  65. 

•Charles  de  Lellis.     Fam.  Gaetani.      10Rubeus.     Life  of  Boniface  VIII. 

uTeuli.     History  of  Velletri.     Book  2.,  chap  5. 


38  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

also  towards  Velletri  itself,  of  which,  when  Pontiff,  he 
accepted  the  office  of  Governor.12 

In  his  day  Gaetani  was  known  far  and  wide  for  his 
knowledge  of  law,  and  it  is  surprising  that  the  writers  of 
his  day  did  not  hand  down  to  posterity  the  name  of  the 
university  in  which  he  studied.  Du  Boulay  places  him 
among  the  most  illustrious  doctors  of  Paris,  stating  that 
he  passed  a  long  time  in  the  University  of  that  city.13 
This  opinion  is  confirmed  by  the  long  stay  made  in  Paris 
by  Gaetani,  who  in  a  certain  Bull  says  that  he  had  been  a 
Canon  of  the  Church  of  Paris ;  and  from  his  own  words  it 
clearly  appears  that  he  not  only  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  that 
Canonry,  but  also  exercised  the  office  personally.14 

He  became  so  well  versed  in  law,  especially  ecclesiastical, 
that  his  reputation  for  learning  soon  became  widespread. 
This  reputation  obtained  for  him  many  and  rich  prebends 
in  various  churches.  He  was  a  canon  at  Anagni;  and 
although  the  canons  of  Todi  could  not  by  law  receive  any 
one  in  their  chapter  unless  he  was  in  Holy  Orders,  yet  they 
granted  the  request  of  Peter  Gaetani,  who  asked  that  his 
nephew  Benedict,  as  yet  a  layman,  be  received  by  them  as 
canon,  on  account  of  his  virtues  and  great  erudition. 
Even  the  canons  of  Lyons  had  him  for  a  fellow  member.15 
The  lustre  of  his  birth,  and  more  especially  his  reputation 
for  learning  soon  opened  the  way  to  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ments. He  was  raised  to  the  office  of  Notary  Apostolic,16 
whose  duty  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church  was  to  write 
and  preserve  the  acts  of  the  martyrs,  and  in  later  ages  the 
Bulls,  the  decrees  of  the  pontiffs,  and  the  canons  of  the 
Councils.  Gaetani  also  exercised  the  office  of  Consistorial 

12  Borgia.     History  of  the  Church  and  City  of  Velletri.     B.  IV.,  p.  295. 

"Du  Boulay.     Hist.  Universitatis  Paris.     Catal.  III.     Tom.  2.,  p.  676. 

14 ".  .  .  .  Quod  ejusdem  Ecclesiae  copiosa  benignitas  nos  olim  dum  in 
"  minoribus  ageremus,  de  ipsius  honorabili  gremio  existentes  fovit  ac 
tractavit  ut  filium,  maternis  fovet  et  lactavit  uberibus."  Du  Boulay. 

15  In  the  Bull  by  which  he  bestows  on  Gaetani  the  Deaconry  of  St. 
Nicholas-in-chains,  Pope  Martin  IV  enumerates  all  these  prebends:  "... 
ut  ecclesias  S.  Nicolai  in  carcere  Tulliano  de  Urbe,  et  de  Barro  in  Lig- 
onensi,  et  de  Piliaco,  archidiaconatum  in  Carnotensi,  ac  ecclesiaim  de 
Thoucester,  canonicatus  quoque  ac  praebendas  in  Ligonensi,  Carnotensi, 
Parisiensi,  Anagnina,  Tuderina,  S.  Audomari  Morinensi,  as  in  Basilica 
S.  Petri  de  Urbe  retinere  possit." 

M  Bull  of  Clement  V.    Rubeus.    Life  of  Boniface  VIII,  p.  3. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  39 

Advocate  an  office  no  less  elevated  than  the  first  named, 
inasmuch  as  the  Consistorial  Advocate,  created  for  the 
first  time  by  Pope  St.  Gregory  the  Great,17  were  deputed  to 
plead  the  causes  of  the  churches  and  of  the  poor.  What 
an  amount  of  knowledge  and  strength  of  character  were 
required  in  the  exercise  of  this  office,18  we  can  readily 
gather  from  the  words  of  the  pope  who  placed  them  in 
office,  and  also  from  one  of  the  constitutions  of  Pope 
Martin  IV,  who  wished  these  Advocates  to  be  the  very 
personification  of  wisdom  and  honesty. — 

We  ought  to  record  that  Gaetani  performed  his  duty 
well  in  all  these  offices,  and  this  convinced  the  popes  that 
he  had  a  talent  and  mind  fitted  for  greater  things,  and 
capable  of  taking  part  in  the  management  of  the  difficult 
issues  between  the  Church  and  princes.  There  was  a  very 
important  task  namely  of  resisting  Manfred  who  was  furi- 
ously roaming  over  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  waging  war 
against  that  part  of  it  belonging  to  the  pope,  and  making 
himself  master  of  it  by  force  of  arms.  Pope  Alexander 
IV  had  not  the  means  to  resist  him,  nor  could  he  trust  the 
inconstant  Neapolitans.  He  thought  of  inviting  a  foreign 
prince,  and  of  investing  him  with  the  realm,  and  thus 
close  the  gate  to  any  one  whomsoever  of  the  Suabian  line. 
He  dispatched  Cardinal  Ottobono  de  Fiesco,  who  was  after- 
wards Adrian  V,  as  legate  to  Henry,  King  of  England, 
that  he  might  offer  in  fief  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  to 
Edmund  his  son.  Benedict  Gaetani  went  with  Fiesco  on 
this  legation,  which  failed  to  achieve  the  desired  effect; 
yet  in  the  compacts  sworn  to  by  the  king  for  his  son, 
the  Pope  had  a  solemn  testimony  of  how  by  public  official 
act  the  direct  and  supreme  dominion  of  the  Church  over 
the  kingdom  of  Sicily  had  been  recognized.  Among  these 
compacts  sworn  to  by  the  English  king  was  this  one,  that 
Edmund,  being  king  of  Sicily,  could  not  aspire  to  the 
imperial  crown ;  and  if  by  any  chance  he  took  the  title  of 
emperor,  he  would  lose  the  royal  crown.  A  wise  provision 
this,  suggested  by  the  still  recent  memory  of  Frederick  II, 
the  vast  extent  of  whose  domain  occasioned  untold  vexation 
to  the  Church. 

It  was  after  the  return  of  Gaetani  from  England  with 

17  Vid.  Piazza.    Opera  Pie  di  Rom.,  cap.  27,  page  288. 
"St.  Gregory.     Book  4,  Index  13,  cap.  69. 


40  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Cardinal  Fiesco,  that  Peter,  his  uncle,  entreated  the  Can- 
ons of  Todi  (1260),  to  admit  him  as  one  of  their  members. 
These  canons,  as  we  stated  before,  did  not  have  it  in  their 
power  to  receive  one  who  was  not  in  major  Orders,  and 
such  was  Benedict  Gaetani.  But  wishing  to  gratify  the 
uncle  and  to  honor  the  nephew,  he  obtained  from  Pope 
Alexander  IV  a  Bull  granting  the  necessary  dispensation 
in  order  to  favor  Benedict,19  and  they  accordingly  received 
him  as  one  of  their  number.20  In  consequence  Gaetani 
kept  Todi  ever  in  fond  remembrance  when  he  became 
pope,  and  entertained  a  singular  affection  for  it.  He 
presented  to  the  Cathedral  of  Todi  the  armorial  ensign 
representing  the  Saviour  with  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  the  red  banner  with  a  white  cross  and  the  papal  keys ; 
he  ordered  the  fagade  to  be  built  and  two  bells  to  be  cast, 
one  of  which  was  called  Boniface ;  he  desired  moreover  the 
Canons  of  Todi  to  come  to  Kome  every  year  to  receive 
Communion  on  Holy  Thursday.  He  also  bestowed  benefits 
on  the  city,  by  releasing  it  from  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 
and  declared  the  territory  of  Petignano  to  be  subject  to  it 
and  not  to  Orvieto  any  longer.  In  return  for  all  these 
favors  there  is  celebrated  to  this  day  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Todi  an  annual  mass  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.21 

In  the  prologue  of  this  history  we  remarked  how 
jealously  Kudolph,  King  of  the  Kornans,  and  Charles  of 
Anjou,  King  of  Sicily,  regarded  each  other,  and  how  skil- 
fully Pope  Nicholas  III  restrained  them,  directing  their 
plans  not  without  the  advantage  of  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  rights  of  the  Papal  Chair.  But  it  happened  that 
a  great  incentive  for  war  between  these  princes  was 
afforded  by  Provence.  Raymond  di  Beranger  of  the  house 
of  the  Counts  of  Barcelona,  the  last  Count  of  that  house, 
had  died  without  male  issue.  Of  the  four  daughters  which 
Beatrice  of  Savoy  bore  to  Raymond,  all  were  married, 
three  becoming  queens;  Margaret  wedded  St.  Louis  of 
France;  Eleanor  espoused  Henry,  King  of  England; 
Sanchia  became  the  wife  of  Richard  of  Cornwall,  elected 
King  of  the  Romans;  wrhile  Beatrice  married  Charles  of 
Anjou.  In  the  year  1261  the  wife  of  Richard  died,  and  in 
1267  that  of  Charles.  Eleanor  and  Margaret  were  still 

M  See  Docum.  A.  20  See  Docum.  B. 

511  From  the  Archives  of  the  Church  of  Todi. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  41 

living  when  Charles  took  absolute  possession  of  Provence, 
and  exacted  the  oath  of  fealty  from  the  entire  province. 
The  surviving  queens  protested,  demanding  that  the  ter- 
ritory of  Provence  be  divided  into  four  parts,  so  as  to 
preserve  their  own  and  their  children's  rights.  Margaret 
was  the  loudest  in  her  protestations;  and  expecting  little 
or  no  aid  from  King  Philip,  her  son,  she  had  recourse  to 
her  nephew,  Edward  I,  and  to  Rudolph,  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans. Her  appeal  to  the  latter  bore  most  fruit.  In  re- 
turn for  his  investing  her  with  that  part  of  Provence  and 
Forcalquier  which  she  claimed,  she  recognized  the  sover- 
eignty of  Rudolph  over  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Aries. 
This  compact  was  pleasing  to  Rudolph,  and  more  pleasing 
still  was  the  favorable  opportunity  for  breaking  peaceful 
relations  with  Charles,  who  lorded  over  Italy  in  his  place. 
The  Angevine  had  been  weakened  by  the  loss  of  the 
vicariate  of  Tuscany,  this  having  been  taken  from  him  by 
Pope  Nicholas  III  who  thus  stripped  him  of  a  great  part 
of  his  sovereignty  in  Italian  affairs;  yet  seeing  himself 
face  to  face  with  Rudolph,  who  was  aroused  against  him 
by  Margaret,  his  sister-in-law,  Charles,  resolved  to  resist 
him,  so  as  not  to  lose  his  present  possession  of  Provence. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1279  he  dispatched  his  eldest 
son  Charles,  Prince  of  Salerno,  surnamed  the  Lame,  to 
Provence,  to  recall  and  accentuate  by  his  presence  the  fact 
of  his  possession.  The  royal  son  visited  the  province  and 
repairing  to  the  court  of  his  uncle,  Philip  of  France,  he 
was  accorded  a  most  splendid  reception.  This  reception 
convinced  Margaret  of  the  dispositions  of  the  King  of 
France,  her  son;  he  would  prefer  to  see  his  uncle  inde- 
pendent lord  of  Provence,  than  see  his  mother  vassal  of  the 
Hapsburg  prince.  This  circumstance  encouraged  Charles 
to  take  a  firm  stand  against  Rudolph. 

If  Charles  and  Rudolph  flew  to  arms,  Pope  Nicholas 
foresaw  the  ruin  of  that  peace  which  he  had  established 
with  so  much  care,  and  that  the  war  of  Provence  would 
soon  extend  to  Italy.  A  just  disposition  of  their  rights 
would  appease  them.  He  turned  his  eyes  to  Benedict 
Gaetani,  and  considered  him  fitted  to  accomplish  the  dif- 
ficult task  in  company  with  Cardinal  Matthew  Acqua- 
sparta.  To  be  considered  worthy  of  this  mission,  Gaetani 
must  have  previously  given  sufficient  proofs  of  consummate 


42  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

diplomacy  and  his  devotion  to  the  Pontiff.  This  was  the 
first  time  that  he  had  an  opportunity  to  study  the  bend 
of  the  princes  of  his  time.  Nicholas  bishop  of  Tripoli 
had  preceded  these  two  legates  in  Germany  and  had  the 
matter  well  under  way;  it  was  happily  concluded  by 
Cardinals  Acquasparta  and  Gaetani.  Thanks  to  their  care, 
Charles  and  Kudolph  came  to  terms.  The  latter  retained 
the  sovereignty  over  Provence  and  Forcalquier,  the  former 
was  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  it,  receiving  feudal 
investiture  from  Rudolph.  The  investiture  of  the  fourth 
part  of  Provence  which  had  been  given  to  Margaret  was  re- 
voked. Mutual  promises  of  peace  between  the  two  kings 
ratified  the  treaty.  Letters  from  the  Pope  appeased  the 
troubled  mind  of  the  disappointed  queen. 

The  two  princes  concluded  the  treaty  by  separate  docu- 
ments drawn  up  by  the  legates.22  As  Gaetani  took  part 
in  this  work,  it  is  well  to  observe  how  clearly  are  reflected 
the  profound  sentiments  of  peace  and  justice  wThich 
animated  him  and  which  were  to  make  him  so  zealous  a 
defender  of  these  two  virtues  during  his  pontificate.  As 
a  means  of  closing  the  way  to  any  dispute  whatsoever  we 
read  in  the  document  of  Charles :  "  If  by  any  misfortune, 
"  which  may  God  forbid,  there  should  arise  any  dispute 
"  between  us  and  the  King  of  the  Romans,  the  one  will 
"not  declare  war  against  the  other;  neither  by  himself 
"  nor  by  others  will  he  molest  the  vassals  of  the  other  .  .  . 
"...  but  we  will  have  recourse  to  the  Roman  Pontiff ; 
"  and  we  and  the  said  King  of  Romans  will  abide  by  the 
"  decision  of  the  Pontiff  given  in  the  matter  of  our  dispute, 
"  whenever  we  cannot  by  ourselves  find  a  means  of  agree- 
"  ment.  Besides  these  conditions  which  are  to  be  rigor- 
"  ously  observed,  we  absolutely  and  freely  determine  by 
"  this  document  to  subject  ourselves  to  the  Roman  Pontiff 
"  both  as  regards  spiritual  and  temporal  matters.  We 
"  have  come  to  the  express  agreement  that  in  reserving  to 
"  the  Roman  Pontiff  now  and  hereafter  the  full  and  entire 
"  right  to  interpret  the  clauses  herein  contained  and  to 
"  make  known  their  meaning,  we  find  ourselves  in  an 
"  especial  manner  to  receive  this  interpretation  and 
declaration." 

When  Gaetani  had  returned  from  this  legation,  Nicholas 

aRaynaldus,  1280.  2.  3.  4. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  43 

III  planned  to  reward  him  for  his  services,  and  accordingly 
he  appointed  him  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  title  of  St. 
Sylvester  and  Martin-ai-Monti.23     To  this  dignity  Martin 

IV  afterwards  added   the   Deaconry  of   St.   Nicholas-in- 
Carcere,  permitting  him  to  retain  at  the  same  time  the 
prebends  he  enjoyed  in  many  churches.24     Martin  sought 
thus  to  make  use  of  the  knowledge  of  Gaetani,  in  calling 
upon  him  to  take  part  in  the  difficult  administration  of 
papal  affairs.     Unfortunately,  by  lingering  in  the  clutches 
of  Charles,  he  put  the  cardinal  to  the  necessity  of  using 
his  talents  more  in  repairing  the  disasters  than  in  increas- 
ing the  prosperity  of  the  Apostolic  See. 

After  the  sad  Sicilian  Vespers,  it  seemed  that  the  aston- 
ished eyes  of  all  Europe  were  fixed  on  that  blood-bathed 
island.  Charles  and  Pope  Martin  in  league  used  all  their 
endeavors  to  lead  it  back  to  its  former  subjection,  the  one 
by  investing  it  with  armed  men,  the  other  by  terrifying  it 
with  threatening  Bulls  and  by  shrewdly  working  upon 
their  minds  through,  the  friendly  overtures  of  a  legate, 
Cardinal  Parma.  The  arms  of  Charles  for  a  time  pre- 
vailed, but  never  the  bulls  nor  the  legates.  All  the  anger 
of  Sicily  was  pent  up  in  the  breasts  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Messina,  who,  strongly  entrenched  in  their  city,  held  out 
successfully  against  Charles.  Whilst  the  fighting  was  going 
on  there,  the  Sicilians,  rebuffed  by  Martin,  a  pope  who  was 
too  much  of  a  Frenchman,  irrevocably  entrusted  to  Peter 
of  Aragon  the  supreme  direction  of  their  affairs.  This 
Spanish  prince  reanimated  the  desperate  courage  of  this 
freed  people  by  furnishing  them  with  troops.  Thus  taking 
shelter  under  the  good  services  of  a  king,  Sicily  became 
day  by  day  more  formidable  to  the  French,  and  the 
fortunes  of  war  were  equally  balanced  on  both  sides.  The 
strife  was  no  longer  between  an  old  king  skilful  in  the  art 
of  controlling  a  people  by  his  will,  and  a  people,  who,  when 
the  first  intoxication  of  liberty  gained  with  so  much  eclat 

23Ciacconi  Vita  Pont. 

24 "  Ut  Ecclesias  Sti.  Nicolai  in  carcere  Tulliano,  de  Urbe  et  Barro  in 
Lingonensi  et  de  Piliaco,  archidiaconatum  in  Carnotensi  ac  ecclesiam  de 
Thouchester,  Canonicatus  quoque  ac  Praebendas  in  Lingonensi,  Carnotensi, 
Lugdunensi,  Parisiensi,  Anagnina,  Tudertina,  Sti.  Audomari,  Morinensi  ac 
in  Basilica  Sti.  Petri  de  Urbe  retineri  posset."  Bull.  Martin  IV  apud 
Rubeum  Vita  Boniface,  p.  3. 


44  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

had  subsided,  would  readily  allow  itself  to  be  enslaved 
again ;  but  a  king  was  matched  against  a  king  of  the  stamp 
and  character  of  Peter  of  Aragon.  This  latter  summoned 
to  Sicily,  Constance,  his  wife,  and  James,  his  eldest  son. 
Although  victorious  and  powerful  by  reason  of  the  Sicil- 
ians' renewal  of  the  rights  which  his  wife  Constance  of  the 
Suabian  House  had  given  over  this  realm,  yet  inasmuch 
as  he  was  in  pecuniary  straits,  he  sought  an  opportunity 
in  which  by  stratagem  he  might  overcome  Charles.  The 
Frenchman  that  Charles  was,  and  the  impetuosity  which 
his  advanced  age  did  not  lessen,  soon  afforded  the  oppor- 
tunity. Descending  from  the  height  of  his  throne  to  the  sta- 
tion of  a  private  individual  he  challenged  Peter  to  a  single 
combat,  and  agreed  to  leave  to  the  issue  of  this  combat,  the 
settlement  of  the  right  of  sovereignty  over  Sicily.  Peter 
accepted  the  challenge,  and  chose  as  the  place  of  combat 
the  plains  of  Bordeaux,  in  Gascony,  neutral  territory  that 
belonged  to  Edward  of  England.  The  writers  of  the  time, 
according  as  they  were  Guelphs  or  Ghibellines,  attribute 
to  the  cunning  of  Charles  or  Peter,  this  expedient  whereby 
to  put  the  other  at  a  distance  from  Sicily.  Having  settled 
the  place  of  encounter,  they  agreed  to  meet  there  on  the 
first  day  of  June,  1283;  Edward  of  England  was  to  be 
referee,  or  in  his  stead  the  governor  of  the  territory.  One 
hundred  knights  were  to  accompany  each  prince,  and 
prove  with  him  their  right  by  skill  in  arms.  The  two  kings 
swore  on  the  Gospel  to  stand  by  the  agreement,  and  forty 
barons  took  the  oath  for  them.  The  one  who  failed  to 
keep  his  promise,  would  be  covered  forever  with  infamy 
and  would  lose  both  the  name  and  honor  of  king. 

The  Papal  Curia  disturbed  by  the  Sicilian  movement 
beheld  with  astonishment  and  sorrow  the  ill-advised  deter- 
mination of  Charles  to  engage  in  a  duel  with  Peter.  To 
entrust  one's  life  to  the  issue  of  a  single  combat  was  wicked, 
unbecoming  to  a  royal  personage,  and  hazardous  to  the 
Church.  The  absence  of  Charles  would  confirm  the  Sicil- 
ians in  their  independence,  facilitate  the  conquest  already 
commenced  in  Calabria,  and  if  the  Frenchman  was  de- 
feated, all  was  lost  in  Sicily  for  the  Pope.  Pope  Martin 
was  firm  as  ever  in  his  sad  mistake  of  identifying  the 
rights  of  Charles  with  those  of  the  Church,  and  thus  he 
dishonored  the  Church  which  he  made  responsible  for  tlie 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  45 

tyranny  of  the  Angevine.  Perhaps  equally  solicitous  for 
the  rights  of  Charles  and  of  St.  Peter,  he  determined  to 
oppose  the  project  and  wished  to  prevent  Charles  from  the 
plebeian  combat.  He  appointed  Gaetani  as  legate  to  re- 
strain the  enraged  Frenchman,  and  made  him  bearer  of 
a  letter  full  of  salutary  advice,  disclosing  the  evils  that 
would  result  were  he  to  persevere  in  his  intentions,  and 
declaring  the  oath  he  had  taken  to  be  of  no  force,  for  the 
reason  that  an  unlawful  act  is  not  binding  on  anyone. 
He  concluded  with  these  words :  "  Moreover,  because  of 
"  the  singular  solicitude  and  love  we  have  for  your  person, 
"  we  wish  to  provide  for  the  event  of  failing  to  persuade 
"you,  in  which  case  it  would  be  necessary  that  some  one 
"  confirm  by  spoken  word  what  we  would  fain  have  already 
"  convinced  you  by  writing.  Wherefore  with  the  advice  of 
"  our  brethren  we  send  to  you  our  beloved  son  Benedict 
"  Gaetani,  Cardinal  Deacon  of  the  title  of  St.  Nicholas-in- 
"  Chains,  in  our  opinion  a  man  of  profound  wisdom,  faith- 
"  ful,  shrewd,  resourceful,  prudent,  a  warm  supporter  of 
"  your  glory  and  of  your  royal  dignity.  Since  the  Church 
"  is  unable  and  unwilling  to  permit  the  course  to  which 
"  you  are  committing  yourself,  he  will  more  clearly  make 
"  known  to  you  our  mind,  and  with  the  greatest  prudence 
"  he  will  reveal  the  vast  and  innumerable  dangers,  which 
"  your  absence  from  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  in  these  days 
"  cannot  but  entail,  dangers  real  and  not  imaginary.  He 
"  will  not  neglect  to  tell  you  of  what  rashness  you  are  ac- 
"  cused,  in  order  to  determine  you  to  obey  without  delay 
"  and  without  contradiction  our  prayers  and  our  advice 
"  and  to  settle  your  mind  on  the  order  we  have  given.25 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  more  the  Pope  longed  for  it, 
with  greater  ardor  did  Gaetani  strive  to  bring  Charles  to 
his  senses;  but  all  in  vain,  for  the  obstinate  prince  was 
determined  on  fighting  the  duel.  It  was  well  for  him  that 
the  duel  was  not  fought;  because  the  crafty  Peter  either 
did  not  come,  or  came  in  a  manner  so  as  not  to  be  seen  by 
Charles,  who  remained  with  his  knights  vainly  awaiting 
his  arrival.  Then  it  was  Gaetani  learned  that  when  the 
Pope  raised  his  voice  even  in  wise  counsels  to  the  princes 
of  those  times  for  their  own  interests,  it  had  no  effect  on 
their  will :  he  could  conclude  that  the  Papacy  speaking  to 

z  See  document  C. 


46  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

them  in  the  name  of  justice  would  meet  with  only  pride 
and  arrogance.  He  learned  this  truth  beforehand;  the 
time  to  test  it  was  near  at  hand. 

Pope  Martin  himself  was  also  lacking  in  prudence,  for 
his  duty  was  to  defend  the  rights  of  the  Church  in  Sicily 
without  ever  making  himself  a  minister  of  the  anger  of 
Charles.  He  not  only  declared  Peter  a  usurper  of  the 
Sicilian  kingdom,  but  deprived  him  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Aragon,  Valencia  and  Catalonia,  with  which  he  invested 
Charles  of  Valois,  the  second  son  of  Philip  the  Bold  of 
France,  who  was  to  hold  them  in  Fief  for  the  Holy  See. 
This  only  fanned  the  war  flame  which  burst  into  a  blaze 
between  Peter  and  Charles  of  Valois,  the  reason  of  which 
was  that  the  former  desired  to  preserve  what  was  his  own, 
and  the  latter  to  maintain  the  title  of  king  which  he  held 
by  appointment  from  the  Pope.  Some  French  soldiers 
summoned  to  Italy  strengthened  the  Guelph  party,  and 
enabled  it  to  rule  the  Ghibellines  with  rod  of  iron.  These 
measures  were  a  cause  of  most  grievous  injury  to  the 
Church  and  to  Charles  himself,  for  they  aroused  anew  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Sicilians  the  spirit  of  revenge  and  gave 
them  the  courage  of  despair ;  moreover  they  shook  even  the 
loyalty  of  the  Neapolitans.  In  fact  the  Sicilians,  led  by 
that  most  skilful  naval  commander  Roger  of  Loria,  after 
a  fierce  battle  near  Malta,  dispersed  a  fleet  of  twenty 
galleys,  which  Charles  had  dispatched  from  Provence.26 
Moreover  in  the  very  waters  of  Naples  they  utterly  de- 
feated the  navy  of  Charles  the  Lame,  and  captured  him 
with  all  his  barons.27  In  the  city  of  Naples  the  people 
then  began  to  cry  out :  ll  Death  to  King  Charles,  long 
live  Roger  of  Loria."  However  the  freedom  of  Sicily 
which  escaped  altogether  from  the  hands  of  Charles,  the 
surrender  forced  or  voluntary  of  many  cities  of  Calabria 
and  the  Basilicata,  and  the  captivity  of  his  son,  all  these 
misfortunes  dealt  a  death  blow  to  the  heart  of  that  prince 
whose  every  ambitious  purpose  up  to  that  time  had  been 
favored  by  fortune.  He  died  the  seventh  of  January 
1285,  leaving  a  war  to  his  son,  misfortune  to  his  people, 
and  to  the  popes  the  obligation  of  regaining  Sicily  for 
the  Church,  among  thorny  embarrassments  occasioned  by 

*Nic.  Special  Hist.  Sic.  lib.  1  c  26.  S.  R.  I.  T.  9.  "Ibidem. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  47 

dynastic  interests  too  little  sacred.  In  the  same  year  there 
followed  Charles  to  the  grave  Pope  Martin,  Philip  the 
Bold  of  France,  and  Peter  of  Aragon ;  the  former  two  were 
succeeded  respectively  by  Honorius  IV  and  Philip  the  Fair, 
while  Peter's  eldest  son  Alphonsus  ascended  the  throne  of 
Aragon,  and  James,  the  second-born  that  of  Sicily.  Naples 
was  reserved  for  Charles  the  Lame. 

Honorius  of  the  Roman  family  of  Savelli  ascended  the 
Papal  throne,  confronted  by  many  difficulties  in  which  the 
French  Pope  Martin  had  involved  the  Papacy.  Every 
means  which  the  supreme  priesthood  in  those  times 
offered  him,  he  determined  to  employ,  to  drive  James  from 
Sicily,  and  to  place  Charles  of  Valois  on  the  throne  of 
Aragon,  that  is  to  say,  by  hurling  censures,  and  by  laying 
tithes  on  the  churches.  But  affairs  turned  out  unfortu- 
nately both  in  Spain,  whence  Philip  of  France  was  forced 
to  withdraw  and  in  Sicily  where  James  was  solemnly 
crowned  king,  although  he  had  been  excommunicated  to- 
gether with  his  mother  Constance.  In  his  trouble  the 
pontiff  turned  his  attention  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
whose  affairs  were  administered  by  the  Count  of  Artois 
and  his  own  legate  Gerard  of  Parma.  To  appease  the 
minds  of  the  Neapolitans,  embittered  by  the  wrongs  in- 
flicted on  them  by  the  House  of  Anjou,  he  wrote  an  ex- 
cellent constitution  of  government  entitled :  "  Pacts  of 
Pope  Honorius."  To  this  document  Benedict  Gaetani 
signed  his  name  together  with  thirteen  other  cardinals. 

In  the  meanwhile  Charles  II,  having  escaped  from  the 
fury  of  the  Sicilians  who  wished  to  kill  him  to  revenge  the 
deaths  of  Manfred  and  Conradin,  languished  in  prison  in 
Catalonia.  In  him  were  placed  the  rights  of  the  Church 
over  Sicily,  because  these  had  become  involved  with  those 
of  the  family  of  Anjou ;  hence  the  pontiffs  forced  to  exert 
themselves  for  his  liberation,  could  not  effect  this  without 
some  sacrifice  of  their  own  interests.  There  did  not  appear 
any  prospect  of  spontaneous  agreement  between  him  and 
his  conquerors,  for  the  war  against  Aragon,  suspended  by 
the  death  of  Philip  III,  had  been  resumed  by  Philip  IV,  the 
Fair,  an  ally  of  his  maternal  uncle,  James,  king  of  Majorca. 
Alphonsus  was  too  stubborn  to  heed  censures,  still  less  the 
peaceful  propositions  of  the  Pope,  especially  since  the  war 
in  Aragon  was  going  favorably  to  him,  and  in  Sicily  he 


48  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

had  nothing  to  fear  so  long  as  the  terrible  Roger  of  Loria 
lived  to  command  his  fleet.  The  youthful  prince  Philip 
grieved  less  over  the  imprisonment  of  Charles,  as  he  did 
not  aspire  to  extend  his  sovereignty  in  Spain.  Only 
Edward  of  England,  bound  by  the  nearest  ties  of  relation- 
ship to  these  princes  and  older  than  they,  was  moved  by 
the  heartrending  letters  of  the  children  of  Charier*,28  and 
prepared  to  negotiate  for  his  release.  He  calls  to  a 
council  in  Bordeaux  the  ambassadors  of  France,  of  Aragon, 
of  Naples,  of  Sicily  and  of  Castile.  In  this  council  he 
suggested,  in  order  to  obtain  the  release  of  Charles,  that 
Sicily  and  the  territory  in  Calabria  wrhich  they  had  con- 
quered, be  ceded  to  Aragon;  and  besides  that  the  Count 
of  Artois  should  renounce  his  claims  to  the  throne  of 
Aragon.  Some  details  of  less  importance  accompanied 
these  main  clauses  of  the  treaty.  Charles  longed  for  his 
release;  Alphonsus,  although  victor,  desired  peace  on 
account  of  the  weariness  displayed  by  his  people  and  the 
apprehensions  caused  him  by  Sanchez  of  Castile.  Philip 
was  silent  on  the  conditions,  but  Honorius  strongly 
opposed  them. 

Imagining  these  propositions  to  be  a  treaty  concluded 
and  signed  by  Charles,  the  Pope  wrote  energetically  to 
him  in  order  to  annul  the  treaty.  He  was  unwilling  and 
rightly  so,  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  Church  over  Sicily 
should  be  bartered  for  the  liberation  of  Charles.  Being 
a  vassal  of  St.  Peter,  Charles  of  his  own  free  will  could  not 
relinquish  that  kingdom  without  the  Pope  intervening  as 
the  principal  party  in  the  transaction.  The  war  against 
Aragon  was  resumed;  that  against  Sicily  became  more 
fierce,  and  again  in  the  waters  of  Naples  the  admiral 
Roger  of  Loria  conquered  and  dispersed  the  French  fleet, 
crowning  this  victory  by  recovering  the  city  of  Augusta. 
Worn  out  in  their  fruitless  efforts  to  adjust  the  affairs  of 
indomitable  Sicily,  the  popes  of  those  times  ended  their 
days,  and  so  in  the  like  manner  Honorius  died.  During 
the  ten  months  that  the  papal  chair  remained  vacant, 
Edward  renewed  his  efforts  for  the  release  of  Charles,  and 
this  was  finally  accomplished  by  the  treaty  of  Oleron  by 
which  Charles  obtained  his  freedom.  But  Philip  the  Fair 
who  had  held  himself  aloof  from  these  agreements,  no 

r,  7,  2,  p.  317. 


STATUE  OF  BONIFACE  VIII,  SET  IX  THE  FACADE  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  AXAGXI. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  '49 

sooner  saw  his  uncle  liberated,  and  Alphonsus  suing  at 
Rome  for  peace  through  his  legates,  than  he  prosecuted 
vigorously  the  war  that  James,  king  of  Majorca,  waged  for 
him  against  Aragon.29 

The  successor  of  Honorius,  Nicholas  IV,  whose  modera- 
tion made  him  supposed  to  be  favorable  to  the  Ghibelline 
party,  ascended  the  papal  throne  at  a  time  in  which  the 
entire  religious  edifice  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  crumbling 
day  by  day.  The  hope  of  the  liberation  of  the  Holy  Land, 
the  attainment  of  which  was  longed  for  by  so  many  genera- 
tions, being  abandoned  by  the  Christian  princes,  perished 
on  the  fallen  walls  of  Ptolemais  (Acre).  The  priestly 
influence,  violently  expelled  from  the  heart  of  civil  society, 
could  not,  on  reentering  its  sanctuary,  defend  the  thresh- 
old against  the  tyranny  of  the  princes  who  followed  her 
there.  In  fine  the  Church  even  of  Rome  had  been  injured 
in  its  temporal  sovereignty  by  the  loss  of  Sicily,  which  the 
sovereigns  negotiating  peace  placed  in  the  scale  of  the 
agreements  as  a  thing  not  sacred.  Hence,  no  more  were 
seen  before  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  monarchs  respect- 
fully bowing  their  heads,  but  bold  and  haughty  jurists.  Of 
these  three  evils  which  affected  the  heart  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  the  usurpation  of  ecclesiastical  rights  by  princes, 
in  virtue  of  a  right  created  by  lawyers,  was  the  most 
terrible.  Nicholas  felt  all  the  bitterness  of  it,  and  with 
him  all  those  whose  advanced  age  permitted  to  recall  the 
reign  of  Innocent  III,  or  who,  by  the  maturity  of  their 
judgment  and  learning  foresaw  the  evil  consequences  of 
this  abuse.  We  think  that  for  this  double  reason  Cardinal 
Gaetani  was  not  the  one  least  distressed;  for  we  find  him 
working  to  repair  these  evils  in  his  third  legation. 

All  the  princes  more  or  less  openly  made  war  on  the 
Church,  violating  in  her  possession  and  sacred  persons  her 
rights  and  her  liberty.  But  Dionysius,  King  of  Portugal, 
showed  himself  more  quarrelsome  than  others.  Alphonsus 
had  been  a  covetous  man  himself  and  passionate,  but  at 
his  death  had  deplored  the  injury  he  had  caused  to  the 
Church.  His  son  Dionysius  inherited  more  the  malice 
than  the  repentance  of  his  father.  Clement  IV,  Gregory 
X,  and  John  XXI  had  failed  in  their  admonitions  to  his 
father  and  in  the  censures  with  which  they  had  struck 

MSurita  Ann.  L.  4  c.  110,  111. 


50  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

him;  alike  unfortunate,  Nicholas  beheld  the  injustices  of 
the  son  without  hope  of  correcting  them.  Dionysius  had 
married  St.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter  of  Aragon,  and 
the  sanctity  of  his  wife  should  have  chastened  him  and 
moderated  his  desires;  but  unfortunately,  the  great  ones 
of  earth  were  already  becoming  acquainted  with  that  com- 
pensation system  which  teaches  that  without  danger  to  the 
soul  a  man  can  unite  good  works  with  the  usurpation  of 
ecclesiastical  rights.  Dionysius  was  disturbed  in  mind 
by  the  anathema  hurled  against  him  by  the  Pope  on 
account  of  his  sins,  but  he  was  not  turned  from  his  course 
of  action ;  the  people  on  all  sides  began  to  make  a  clamor, 
but  he  pretended  not  to  notice  it.  At  length  he  was 
brought  to  his  senses,  and  he  agreed  to  submit  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Pontiff  his  disputes  with  the  hierarchy  of  his 
realm. 

The  royal  and  ecclesiastical  procurators  arrived  in 
Rome.  The  king  was  represented  by  Martin,  chorister  of 
the  cathedral  church  of  Talavaras,  and  John,  canon  of 
Coimbra ;  the  archbishop  of  Braga,  the  bishops  of  Coimbra 
and  of  Lamea,  had  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  Portu- 
guese Church.  The  Pope  named  a  commission  to  hear  and 
pass  judgment  on  the  affair.  It  was  made  up  of  three 
cardinals,  Latino,  Bishop  of  Ostia,  Peter,  Cardinal  of  St. 
Mark,  and  Benedict  Gaetani:  a  venerable  tribunal,  in 
which  virtue  and  talent  combined,  offered  justice  the  surest 
guarantees,  because  the  first  two  excelled  in  sanctity,  and 
the  third  in  knowledge  of  the  law.  The  Portuguese  pre- 
lates complained  of  the  oppression  of  the  churches  and  the 
clergy  of  the  kingdom,  which  left  no  vestige  of  ecclesiastical 
liberty ; 30  their  complaints  were  recounted  in  forty 
articles.  The  judges  decided  and  the  parties  submitted 
to  the  judgment;  it  repealed  the  laws  of  Alphonsus  and 
Dionysus;  freed  the  churches  and  clergy  from  laical  im- 
pieties, and  pronounced  penalties  against  the  offenders. 
We  find  that  after  the  heads  of  accusation  upon  which 
the  judgment  of  the  cardinals  bore,  all  the  favor  that  the 
royal  procurators  obtained  was  the  declaration  of  the 
innocence  of  their  king  in  the  past,  and  a  promise  of  faith- 
ful observance  of  the  compacts  in  the  future;  for  each 
article  is  constantly  followed  by  formula :  "  Up  to  this 

10  Kaynaldus,  year  1289,  no.  17. 


HISTORY   OF    POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  5! 

time  the  king  has  not  done  this,"  and  in  "  Ms  name  we 
promise  that  he  will  not  do  it."31  However  the  treaty  was 
ratified  by  public  acts  and  by  the  papal  authority,  which 
deputed  the  Prior  of  the  Friar  Preachers  of  Lisbon  to  re- 
ceive the  oath  of  the  king  and  absolve  him  from  censures.32 
The  affairs  of  Portugal  being  settled,  Benedict  Gaetani 
was  entrusted  with  another  mission,  in  the  performance  of 
which  he  was  to  acquire  a  great  knowledge  of  the  men  and 
things  of  his  time.  He  was  ordered  by  Nicholas  to  go  as 
legate  to  France,  where  the  affairs  that  particularly  oc- 
cupied the  mind  of  the  Pontiff  took  a  disastrous  turn,  and 
became  more  and  more  entangled.  Hopes  regarding  the 
Holy  Land  were  on  the  wane;  Tripoli  had  fallen,  and 
Ptolomais  (Acre)  alone  remained  standing,  but  to  become 
the  prey  of  the  immense  army  of  Kalaun  Elalfi,  Sultan  of 
Egypt,  who  was  now  besieging  it.  Nicholas  alone  felt 
truly  grieved  over  the  desperate  straits  to  which  the  faith- 
ful in  the  Holy  Land  were  reduced ;  the  other  princes  were 
glad  because  they  found  occasion  to  gorge  themselves  with 
sacred  tithes,  under  the  pretext  of  a  prospective  crusade. 
The  clergy  could  not  always  remain  impassible  to  this 
iniquitous  collection;  but  if  they  resisted,  they  would  be 
at  variance  with  royal  ministers,  and  they  would  be  losers. 
That  which  avarice  coveted,  tyranny  extorted.  To  remedy 
these  scandalous  abuses,  it  was  necessary  to  urge  the 
princes  to  a  crusade  and  make  war  on  the  Sultan,  or  oblige 
them  to  restore  the  tithes,  and  at  last  establish  peace 
among  themselves.  Philip  was  more  insolent  than  others 
to  the  churches;  and  as  he  exhausted  the  treasury  with 
more  avidity  than  the  rest,  so  he  was  more  vigorously 
opposed  to  peace;  because  he  coveted  Aragon,  he  had  no 
intention  of  tiring  himself  by  a  war  which  others  would 
make  for  him.  Gaetani  and  Gerard  of  Parma  entered 
France,  bearing  letters  of  credit  the  most  flattering  and 
the  most  honorable.  The  Pope  expressed  himself  thus: — 
"  Full  of  consideration  for  your  persons,  of  whose  great 
"  merits,  many  virtues,  and  tried  honesty  we  are  not 
" ignorant;  knowing  that  we  love  peace  and  amity;  that 
"  the  honor  and  elevation  of  the  two  kings,  Charles  the 
"  Lame  and  Alphonsus  of  Aragon,  are  dear  to  your  heart ; 

31  Quod  rex  non  fecit  hactenus  haec,  et  promittunt  ejus  nomine  quod  non 
faciet  in  futurum.  "Raynaldua,  year  1289,  no.  17. 


52  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  wishing  to  show  all  our  affectionate  solicitude  for  the 
"  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  we  order  you,  by  these  apostolic 
"  letters,  to  accept  with  good  grace,  on  account  of  respect 
"  for  God,  the  burden  we  impose  upon  you  of  entering  this 
"country  (France).  We  regret  very  much  separating 
"  ourselves  from  you  whose  presence  is  so  valuable  to  us. 
"  Exert  yourself  to  treat  this  affair,  and  all  that  which  is 
"  attached  to  it,  in  the  manner  that  your  wisdom  and 
"  prudence  will  judge  most  useful  for  the  peace  of  the 
"  world,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Apostolic  See,  and  for 
"  the  interests  of  the  Holy  Land,  which  holds  the  first 
place  in  our  thoughts." —  We  do  not  often  find  ex- 
pressed in  letters  of  this  kind  the  disquietude  felt  by  the 
pontiff  because  of  the  enforced  absence  of  any  legate.  It 
shows  that  Gaetani  was  the  very  soul  of  the  affairs  at  the 
papal  court.  We  find  him  and  Cardinal  Gerard  sent  on 
the  greatest  and  most  intricate  missions  of  those  times. 
They  undertook  to  negotiate  two  grave  affairs:  the  one  of 
establishing  peace  between  the  Christian  princes  fighting 
for  the  usurped  Sicily  and  the  disputed  Aragon;  and  the 
other  to  obtain  aid  for  the  Holy  Land.33 

(1290)  Hardly  had  they  arrived  in  Paris,  when  they 
called  together  all  the  prelates  of  the  kingdom  to  the 
church  of  St.  Genevieve,  and  there  held  a  synod.34  They 
turned  to  the  consideration  of  the  complaints  of  the 
churches  oppressed  by  the  royal  ministers,  especially  those 
of  Poitiers,  of  Chartres,  and  of  Lyons,  as  the  Pope  had 
indicated  to  Philip  in  the  letter  in  which  he  recommended 
to  him  the  legates.35  There  was  question  next  of  taking 
from  the  king  all  the  tithes  collected  for  the  Holy  Land 
by  his  father,  Philip  the  Bold,  and  which  had  not  been 
used  for  their  sacred  purpose.  Nor  was  there  any  hope 
that  they  would  be  spent  by  Philip  the  Fair,  for  the  cru- 
sade for  which  he  had  no  inclination.  This  council  was 
probably  unfruitful  since  it  was  concerned  in  wresting 
money  from  the  hands  of  Philip.  Entering  a  little  further 
within  the  court,  the  legates  tried  to  calm  the  mind  of 
Philip  against  Edward,  King  of  England.  They  tried  to 
stifle  the  quarrel,  which  burst  forth  as  violently  and  for 
so  long  a  period.  Neither  in  this  did  they  succeed  in  their 

"Raynaldus,   1290,  no.   17.  "Vide  Council.     Collec.  an.  1290. 

18  Raynaldus,  1290,  no.  19. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  53 

intent.36  Gaetani  sounded  Philip  and  found  him  bitter 
and  savage;  he  never  forgot  it. 

The  legates  now  came  to  the  subject  of  the  peace.  The 
treaty  of  Oleron  had  released  Charles  the  Lame  from 
prison,  but  it  did  not  guarantee  the  rights  of  the  Church 
over  Sicily.  This  prince  had  been  compelled  to  cede  to 
James,  Sicily  and  Reggio,  a  city  of  Calabria,  to  induce 
Charles  of  Valois  to  renounce  his  claims  on  Aragon;  to 
engage  the  pontiffs  to  confirm  the  terms  of  the  agreement, 
and  to  remove  the  many  censures  against  the  family  of 
Aragon;  besides  fifty  thousand  marks  of  gold  and  silver 
were  to  be  paid  by  him  to  Alphonsus,  and  another  twenty 
thousand  was  to  be  guaranteed  by  Edward  of  England. 
A  space  of  three  years  was  allowed  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promises,  after  which  time,  in  case  of  failure,  Charles 
was  to  betake  himself  on  foot  as  a  prisoner  to  the 
Aragonese. 

In  the  meanwhile  as  a  pledge  of  the  given  promise, 
Charles  was  to  deliver  up  to  Alphonsus  his  three  sons 
Louis,  Robert  and  John,  and  fully  sixty  of  the  people  of 
Provence.37  As  soon  as  Charles  had  made  known  to  Pope 
Nicholas,  in  the  interview  they  had  at  Rieti  the  conditions 
on  which  he  had  procured  his  liberty,  he  was  severely 
reprimanded.  The  Pope  declared  them  unjust  and  unlaw- 
ful, because  they  were  agreed  to  without  his  consent  and 
because  they  violated  the  rights  of  the  Church  over  Sicily.38 
According  to  this  decision  it  followed  that  Charles  should 
again  place  himself  in  the  hands  of  Alphonsus.  But 
Nicholas  freed  him ;  he  released  him  from  his  oath,  for  the 
reason  that  Charles  had  not  the  power  to  cede  the  kingdom 
of  Sicily  which  was  not  his  to  give,  but  belonged  to  the 
Church;  and  because  having  been  made  prisoner  in  an 
unjust  war  he  was  in  no  way  bound  to  resume  his  chains.39 
To  ratify  his  words,  the  Pontiff  solemnly  crowned  Charles 
King  of  Sicily.  Yet  Charles  was  uneasy  in  conscience. 
At  the  end  of  the  three  years,  the  conditions  which  he  had 
signed  were  still  unfulfilled,  and  so  whilst  Aragon  was 

86 "  Qui  super  negotiis  nihil  facere  potuerunt."  Giordano,  M.  S.  Vatie. 
apud  Raynaldus  18. 

"Rymer.  Tom.  2,  p.  342.  "Villani.  lib.  7.  cap.  130. 

**  These  reasons  were  explained  in  the  letter :  "  Si  graves,"  directed  to 
Alphonsus,  15  March,  1288. 


54  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

invested  by  James  of  Majorca  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  by  Sancho  of  Castile,  and  the  minds  of  all  were 
occupied  with  the  war,  he  seized  the  opportunity  and 
presented  himself  at  the  frontier  of  the  realm,  between  the 
hills  of  Pannisar  and  Jonquire,  offering  himself  (to  whom 
we  do  not  know)  as  a  prisoner  of  Alphonsus.  No  one 
was  willing  to  receive  because  no  one  understood  this  offer. 
But  in  the  meanwhile  a  notary  drew  up  an  official  docu- 
ment stating  that  Charles  unarmed,  with  a  small  number 
of  retainers,  had  come  to  the  confines  of  Aragon,  and  that 
Alphonsus  had  not  put  in  his  appearance  to  claim  him 
again  as  prisoner  and  restore  the  hostages: — in  a  word, 
it  was  a  repetition  of  the  comedy  which  Peter,  the  father 
of  Alphonsus,  had  probably  played  on  the  father  of  Charles 
in  the  famous  duel  of  Bordeaux  which  was  never  fought. 
Thus  Charles,  through  the  Papal  absolutions  and  his  own 
cunning,  from  a  debtor  became  a  creditor,  and  regarded 
himself  legitimately  authorized  to  enter  into  war  with  the 
Aragonese  King.  But  the  latter,  who  was  victorious, 
menaced  France ;  whereby  Philip,  yielding  to  the  entreaty 
of  Charles,  was  obliged  to  suspend  the  war  against  Aragon, 
and  to  establish  an  armistice  until  the  first  day  of  Novem- 
ber of  the  next  year.  During  this  time  a  definite  peace 
could  be  arranged  in  an  assembly  to  be  convened  at 
Tarascon,  the  Papal  legates  and  those  of  Edward  being 
mediators.40 

(1291)  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs,  when  Gaetani  and 
Gerard  of  Parma  arrived  at  Tarascon  to  negotiate  peace. 
It  was  a  numerous  assembly.  There  were  fully  twelve 
ambassadors  from  Aragon,  for  it  was  desired  that  the 
clergy,  the  barons,  the  nobles  and  the  citizens  of  the  realm 
be  represented  in  that  assembly.  Charles  II  was  present 
in  person ;  four  ambassadors  of  Edward  came  with  the  title 
of  mediators,  but  Philip  sent  no  representative.  All  were 
in  favor  of  peace ;  but  it  was  difficult  to  agree  on  the  terms, 
because  the  conditions  exacted  by  Rome  caused  the  treaty 
of  Oleron  to  be  rejected,  seemed  too  onerous  to  Alphonsus ; 
and  even  though  he  had  accepted  them,  Charles  of  Valois 
would  have  been  dissatisfied  and  deprived  of  his  rights 
over  Aragon.  Therefore  the  regrets  of  the  losers  were  to 
be  tempered  by  the  substitution  of  some  new  acquisition. 

40  Mariana  XIV,  13-633. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  55 

This  was  altogether  the  work  of  the  Papal  legates  and 
chiefly  of  Benedict  Gaetani,  who  during  his  pontificate 
showed  so  much  equity  in  such  matters,  when  submitted 
to  his  judgment.  In  the  treaty  that  was  drawn  up  it  was 
agreed:  that  Alphonsus  should  surrender  all  claim  to 
Sicily,  refusing  every  aid  to  his  brother  James  who  held  it, 
and  that  he  should  recall  all  the  Aragonese  and  Catalonian 
soldiers  from  that  island;  that  he  should  go  as  a  crusader 
to  Palestine;  that  he  should  pay  into  the  treasury  of  the 
Church  every  year  thirty  ounces  of  gold,  a  tribute  to  which 
his  great-grandfather  was  bound;  that  he  should  be 
allowed  to  remain  in  peaceful  and  lawful  possession  of  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon,  and  should  be  acknowledged  as  king; 
that  he  should  be  dispensed,  at  least  for  some  time,  from 
the  obligation  of  restoring  to  the  King  of  Majorca,  the 
Balearic  Islands;  that  he  should  be  restored  to  the  favor 
of  the  Church,  and  be  pardoned  for  past  trangressions ; 
that  he  should  return  to  Charles,  his  sons  and  the  Prov- 
ence barons,  whom  he  held  as  hostages;  that  Sicily  was  to 
be  given  to  the  conquest  of  the  King  of  Naples ;  but  that  in 
return  Charles  should  cede  to  the  Count  of  Valois  the 
provinces  of  Anjou  and  Main,  to  make  up  for  the  loss  of 
his  rights  over  Aragon,  and  that  he  should  give  him  in 
marriage,  his  daughter  Margaret.  All  parties  being  per- 
fectly contented,  the  treaty  was  signed  on  the  19th  of 
February,  1291.  However  the  hope  of  peace  was  not 
realized.  Alphonsus  died,  still  young,  in  June  of  the  same 
year,41  and  Philip  was  unwilling  to  ratify  the  treaty. 

Having  returned  from  his  mission  to  France,  we  do  not 
find  that  Gaetani  was  employed  in  any  particular  affair, 
although  certainly  he  must  not  have  been  idle  in  the  Papal 
Curia  at  a  time  in  which  the  Church  was  suffering  many 
and  most  grievous  misfortunes.  Perhaps  he  was  still  on 
his  way  returning  from  Spain,  when  in  May  all  Christian 
domination  in  the  Holy  Land  ended  with  the  fall  of 
Ptolemais  (Acre).  Sixty  thousand  Christians  having 
perished  by  the  sword,  by  fire,  and  by  drowning  around  its 
walls,  sadly  announced  that  the  sincere  faith  of  the 
Christians,  that  generous  mover  of  hearts  in  the  council 
of  Clermont,  expired  in  the  hearts  of  the  princes,  and  in  the 
breasts  of  the  people.  Urban  II  had  opened  and  Nicholas 

41  Mariana,  L.  14,  c.  14. 


56  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

IV  had  closed  the  grand  period  of  the  Crusades.  And 
just  as  the  former  left  in  the  papal  chair  an  ardent  hope 
as  an  inheritance  to  his  successors,  the  latter  left  sorrows, 
which  could  not  be  assuaged  by  the  vain  and  fleeting  hopes, 
which,  at  the  most,  nourished  weak  efforts,  but  did  not 
satisfy  the  desires.  Thus  Nicholas  for  another  year 
dragged  along  his  life  in  misery,  convoking  provincial 
councils  in  order  to  repair  the  disasters  in  the  Holy  Land ; 
urging  princes  to  prepare  a  crusade;  striving  to  convert 
the  kings  of  Armenia  to  the  faith  and  propose  to  them  the 
conquest  of  Palestine;  and  hurling  anathemas  against 
Sicily,  which  had  stubbornly  chosen  as  King  Frederick, 
the  son  of  James,  who  had  gone  himself  to  reign  in 
Aragon. 

The  grave  being  closed  over  the  remains  of  Nicholas,  the 
Papacy  in  a  sad  and  pitiable  state  remained  in  the  hands  of 
twelve  cardinals,  among  whom  was  Gaetani.  Six  were 
Romans,  four  from  another  part  of  Italy,  and  two  were 
French.  Cardinal  Latino  of  Ostia  was  the  most  renowed 
for  piety,  Cardinal  Gaetani  for  wisdom  and  learning,  while 
Cardinal  James  Colonna,  and  Matthew  Kosso  of  the  Orsini 
rivalled  one  another  in  power.  The  obsequies  over  the 
dead  Pope  being  ended,  they  met  in  conclave  in  the  palace 
built  by  Nicholas  IV,  near  the  basilica  of  St.  Mary  Major. 
Memorable  conclave !  The  usual  prayers  were  recited,  and 
the  Cardinal  of  Ostia  exhorted  them  to  concord.  Ste- 
phaneschi,  who  later  became  Cardinal  of  St.  George  in 
Velabro,  has  transmitted  to  us  in  verse  the  words  of  the 
pious  Cardinal  of  Ostia;  and  touching  upon  the  many 
misfortunes  that  were  to  be  repaired  on  account  of  the 
ruined  state  of  the  affairs  of  the  Christians  in  Syria,  and 
the  -usurpation  of  Sicily,  he  ended  with  this  Koman 
thought :  "  And  we  who  "  distribute  realms,  are  ourselves 
beset  on  every  side." 42  But  scarcely  had  the  twelve 
cardinals  entered  upon  serious  deliberation,  when  there 
arose  a  great  division  among  them.  Their  minds  were 
fluctuating,  and  their  bodies  were  restless.  They  changed 
their  place  of  meeting,  and  proceeded  to  the  palace  of  Pope 
Honorius  IV  at  the  church  of  St.  Sabina,  and  afterwards 
they  went  to  the  church  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Minerva. 

42  Jacob.  S.  Georg.  Vit.  S.  Voel.  L.  X.  c.  1 :  "  Et  nobia  qui  regna  damus, 
nos  undique  turbant!  "— — 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  57 

Cardinals  Orsini  and  Colonna  were  contending,  and  each 
one  drew  to  himself  a  part  of  the  electors.  The  former 
desired  a  pope  who  would  be  friendly  to  Charles  II,  the 
latter  opposed  such  an  election.43  On  which  side  Cardinal 
Gaetani  arrayed  himself  we  do  not  know,  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  neither  the  author  nor  fomenter  of  discord; 
rather  according  to  the  testimony  of  Platina,44  in  the 
severest  terms  he  urged  the  discordant  parties  to  come  to 
a  happy  agreement  by  electing  a  pope.  But  if  we  be 
allowed  to  make  a  conjecture  from  the  friendship  which 
bound  him  at  that  time  to  Colonna,  by  the  means  of  whom 
he  became  Pope,  we  may  affirm  that  he  supported  the 
Colonna  side. 

That  roving  conclave  held  a  session  for  almost  three 
months,  and  nothing  resulted  from  it.  In  the  meantime 
the  summer  was  advanced,  the  heat  was  noisome,  and 
many  fell  ill.  The  French  Cardinal  Cholet  dying  on  the 
2nd  of  August,  diminished  the  number  of  the  electors,  who, 
being  frightened,  desisted  from  the  fruitless  deliberations. 
Gerald  of  Parma,  Matthew  Acquasparta,  Peter  of  St. 
Mark,  and  the  Frenchman  Hugh  of  St.  Sabina  betook 
themselves  to  Rieti;  Matthew  Orsini,  James  and  Peter 
Colonna,  and  the  bishop  of  Tusculum  remained  in  Rome; 
Benedict  Gaetani  repaired  alone  to  Anagni.  He  was 
worn  out  by  a  long  and  obstinate  illness,  which  came  nigh 
causing  his  death.45  In  October  they  assembled  again  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Minerva  more  disunited  than 
before. 

(1293)  The  year  1292  elapsed,  and  as  yet  no  hope  ap- 
peared. In  the  meantime  those  quarrels  of  the  nobility  fo- 
mented by  Colonna  and  Orsini  in  the  conclave,  on  account 
of  which  each  of  them  was  stubborn  in  his  opinion  concern- 
ing a  new  pontiff,  were  deplorably  manifested  in  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  senator.  One  must  be  elected;  but  the 
Orsini  and  Colonna  families  each  desired  that  this  office 
should  be  accorded  to  their  own  respective  families,  and  as 
a  result  they  divided  the  people  of  Rome  into  two  blood- 
thirsty factions,  which,  fighting  furiously  for  six  months, 
stained  the  city  with  blood  and  rapine.  Finally  for  the 
sake  of  peace  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  elect  two  senators, 

"John  Villani,  lib.  7,  c.  150.          "Story  of  the  lives  of  the  Pontiffs. 
45  James  St.  George  in  Preface. 


58  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

one  from  the  Orsini  and  one  from  the  Colonna  families. 
These  exterior  disturbances  which  arrested  the  attention 
of  the  proud  patricians,  were  also  the  cause  of  division 
among  the  Cardinals,  who,  as  St.  Antonius  observes,46 
seemed  to  attend  to  their  own  interests  and  not  those  of 
Christ  in  the  matter  of  that  election. 

Summer  returned,  and  they  also  returned  to  disagree. 
The  Koman  Cardinals  with  Acquasparta  and  Gerald  went 
to  Rieti;  three  others  remained  in  Eome.  Gaetani  alone 
retired  to  Viterbo.  This  solitude  chosen  by  Gaetani  clearly 
shows,  that  abhorring  the  scandalous  delays  which  pro- 
longed the  widowhood  and  the  perils  of  the  Church,  he 
kept  aloof  from  the  base  and  wearisome  intrigues  of  the 
various  parties.  But  a  threatened  schism  suddenly  reas- 
sembled them  at  Perugia.  The  two  Cardinals,  Colonna  and 
John  bishop  of  Frascati,  agreeing  in  sentiment,  believed 
that,  because  they  were  dwelling  in  Rome,  they  alone  could 
elect  a  pope ;  and  signified  to  those  absent  that  they  should 
come  if  they  wished  to  select  one  with  them.  All  were 
aroused  by  this  procedure ;  they  assembled  in  Perugia,  but 
their  minds  were  not  changed.  Then  filled  with  a  noble 
indignation  Gaetani  began  to  lash  their  unfeeling  hearts 
most  severely,  because  they  had  resolved  to  choose  a  pope 
in  such  a  manner.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  sharp  but 
most  just  rebuke  had  an  effect  on  the  obstinate  electors. 

It  was  towards  the  end  of  winter  that  Charles,  the  Lame, 
on  his  way  from  France,  came  to  Perugia  to  meet  his  son 
Charles  Martel,  titular  king  of  Hungary.  The  Cardinals 
had  prepared  extravagant  honors  for  him.  Two  of  them, 
Napoleon  Orsini,  and  Peter  Colonna,  with  a  numerous 
escort  went  out  of  the  city  to  meet  him;  and  the  others 
received  him  at  the  doors  of  the  Church,  and  made  him  sit 
down  among  them  in  the  conclave.  Nay  more,  the  first 
seat  was  given  to  Charles,  King  of  Naples,  placing  him 
between  the  first  two  Cardinal  Bishops;  the  second  seat 
was  given  to  his  son  between  the  first  two  Cardinal  Dea- 
cons. An  unbecoming  session  and  full  of  danger.  They 
were  bound  by  the  chains  of  discord,  and  they  had  desired 
to  be  bound  also  by  those  of  a  prince.  Charles  made  a 
speech  to  the  cardinals,  exhorting  them  to  elect  a  pope 
quickly;  Cardinal  Latino  replied  for  them.  All  these  pro- 

48  P.  B.  tit.  20,  c.  7. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  59 

ceedings  Gaetani  beheld  and  heard  with  great  displeasure, 
and  indignation.  For  a  princely  layman  to  be  seated  in 
the  first  place  among  the  papal  electors  in  the  sacred  coun- 
cils was  an  intrusion  into  affairs  which  the  Church  holds 
most  dear  and  which  she  would  not  allow  a  profane  hand 
to  touch;  and  the  presence  of  a  king  among  prelates,  al- 
ready weakened  by  dissensions,  was  a  lessening  of  their 
liberty.  Nor  is  it  to  be  believed  that  that  speech  of  the  king 
advising  a  quick  election  was  prompted  by  love  for  the 
Church  and  religion.  He  desired  to  see  a  pope  elected, 
yet  he  wanted  one  according  to  his  own  liking  and  who 
would  further  his  own  interests  and  this  action  was  not  a 
suppression  of  discord  but  rather  a  fomenter  of  it,  and 
an  impertinence.  In  fact  he  was  sharply  rebuked  by 
Gaetani,  who  himself  in  a  violent  manner  had  tried  to 
compel  the  electors  to  bring  the  affair  to  a  termination.47 
We  know  not  whether  it  was  from  these  rebukes,  or  from 
others  which  Gaetani  gave  him  for  his  impertinent  intru- 
sion, arose  those  sharp  words  which  passed  between 
Gaetani  and  the  King.48  Muratori  supposes,  and  we  ven- 
ture to  hold  the  same,  that  the  cause  of  the  breach  of 
friendly  relations  between  these  two  personages  was,  that 
the  noble-souled  Cardinal  had  frankly  told  the  King  that 
it  did  not  belong  to  him  to  designate  the  time  for  the  elec- 
tion of  the  pope.  But  why  then  had  the  eminent  annalist 
assigned  pride  as  the  cause  of  the  action  of  Gaetani?  That 
act  of  his,  suppressing  the  importunities  of  a  prince  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Church,  was  most  praiseworthy;  we  do  not' 
find  that  it  had  its  origin  in  pride,  but  rather  in  the  con-1 
sciousness  of  his  own  office,  which  was  that  of  a  cardinal,' 
during  the  vacancy  of  the  Apostolic  See,  to  defend  the' 
liberty  of  the  Church.49  Charles  the  Lame,  went  away^ 
displeased,  and  was  taught  a  lesson  by  Gaetani. 

(1294)     But  the  cursed  discord  did  not  disappear.    Fi-] 
nally  twenty-seven  months  after  the  death  of  Nicholas^  it} 

47  Platina. 

*8Gordan.  M.  S.  Vatican.  Raynaldus.  "Dura  Quoque  verba,  (Carolus)J 
cum  domino  Benedicto  Cajetano  habuit,  nihil  tamen  profecit."  Ptol.  Luc. 
Hist.  Eccl.  cap.  29.  "  Dura  verba  habuit  cum  Domino  Benedicto  Cajetano. 
Non  proficiens  antem,  venit  in  Regnum."  Idem  Annal.  S.  R.  I.  T.  21,' 
1300  ..."  quod  Regem  Carolum  Perusiis  multum  exasperasset." 

"Muratori  Annals. 


gQ  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

happened,  that  a  very  young  brother  of  Cardinal  Matthew 
Orsini  died,  and  the  Cardinal  of  Tusculum,  John  Bocca- 
mazza  discoursing  with  his  colleagues  injected  into  their 
minds  mournful  thoughts  that  are  always  productive  of 
good.  And  perceiving  that  these  discourses  had  penetrated 
their  guilty  consciences :  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  do  we  not  im- 
mediately choose  a  head  for  the  Church?  What  is  the 
"reason  of  this  discord  which  divides  us?" — "Oh!  we 
"  wretches ! "  then  broke  forth  Cardinal  Latino  Mala- 
"  branca  all  dismayed,  (he  whom  some  authors  declare  is 
"  the  author  of  that  prophetic  and  solemn  poem,  the  Dies 
"Irae),50  how  terrible  is  the  anger  of  the  Lord,  which  is 
"  raging  over  our  heads,  and  which  before  four  months  will 
"  strike  us,  as  has  been  revealed  to  a  holy  man !  "  "  What, 
"  Cardinal,"  interrupting  him,  said  Gaetani  with  a  smile, 
"  Is  this  perhaps  one  of  the  visions  of  Peter  of  Mt.  Mor- 
"  rone?  " — "  One  of  his  exactly,"  replied  Latino,  "  and  I 
"  have  a  letter  in  which  he  tells  me  that  he  has  received  a 
"  command  from  God  to  warn  you  of  these  threats."  That 
sufficed  to  fix  the  thoughts  and  conversation  of  all  on  that 
famous  hermit.  Then  they  began  to  converse  about  his 
austerities,  his  miracles  and  his  virtues ;  and  someone  even 
proposed  him  for  supreme  pontiff.  Cardinal  Latino,  who 
was  most  devoted  to  the  Saint  of  Mt.  Morrone,  took  up  the 
proposition,  and  without  any  further  delay  strengthened 
it  by  giving  him  his  vote.  At  once  they  were  all  filled  with 
the  thought  of  the  wonderful  sanctity  of  the  hermit,  and 
for  that  reason  alone  judged  him  worthy  of  the  Papal 
Chair.  They  united  in  giving  their  suffrage  to  Peter  Mor- 
rone, and  Cardinal  Latino,  as  senior  deacon  of  the  conclave, 
received  the  power  to  select  him  in  the  name  of  all.  Gae- 
tani was  among  these,  yet  it  does  not  seem,  judging  from 
his  delay  in  repairing  to  Aquila  to  do  homage  to  the  new 
Pope,  that  in  the  interior  of  his  soul  he  approved  of  the 
choice.  He  above  all  others  knew' the  immense  weight  of 
the  Roman  Pontificate,  and  could  judge  whether  the  shoul- 
ders of  a  holy,  but  inexperienced,  hermit  were  able  to  sup- 
port it. 

The  Pontiff  elect  was  a  man  of  most  austere  life,  who, 
shut  up  in  a  narrow  cell  among  the  rocks  of  the  high  moun- 
tain of  Majella  near  Sulmona,  seemed  to  be  no  longer  a 

10  See  Cardella,  History  of  the  Cardinals,  T.  2,  cap.  II, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  (}1 

thing  of  this  earth,  so  much  had  he  been  separated  from 
men.  It  is  the  common  opinion  that  he  was  born  at 
Isernia,  a  city  of  the  county  of  Molise  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  his  parents  being  Anglerius  and  Mary.  While 
still  very  young  he  was  filled  with  a  great  love  for  solitude, 
and  he  longed  to  imitate  the  ancient  dwellers  of  the  desert 
of  Thebais.  At  first  he  became  a  monk  of  St.  Benedict, 
and  afterwards  without  becoming  acquainted  with  men 
and  the  things  of  this  earth,  he  repaired  to  Majella,  and 
there  practised  all  manner  of  austerities.  His  holiness  of 
life,  the  wonder  which  his  extraordinary  austerities  excited, 
and  the  report  of  the  miracles  worked  by  him  attracted 
many  around  him,  who  wished  to  imitate  his  life  and  ex- 
ample ;  and  in  a  short  time  from  being  a  poor  lonely  hermit 
he  found  himself  the  head  and  founder  of  a  congregation 
of  religious  who  afterwards  from  the  name  he  took  in  the 
Papacy  were  called  Celestines.  He  repaired  to  Lyons, 
where  the  council  was  being  held,  to  have  his  congregation 
and  rule  approved  by  Gregory  IX.  Immediately  out  of 
compassion  for  the  rigors  of  these  penitents,  people  re- 
sponded with  loyal  offerings.  Grants  of  land  were  given 
them;  suddenly  churches  and  monasteries  arose,  which 
in  their  splendor  made  them  forget  the  poverty  of  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  congregation.  During  the  lifetime  of  the 
Saint,  they  even  acquired  a  monastery  in  Rome  near  St. 
Peter's.  From  the  monks  who  lived  there,  Cardinal  Latino 
learned  the  merits  of  their  founder,  to  whom  he  displayed 
great  love  and  devotion,  giving  expression  to  it  by  an 
annual  gift  of  alms.  Although  the  order  founded  by  him 
had  prospered,  leaving  the  government  and  direction  of  it 
to  others,  he  thought  of  nothing  else  but  of  attending  to  his 
own  soul ;  and  so  to  be  alone  he  retired  to  the  rocks  of  Mor- 
rone,  a  part  of  Majella,  and  from  which  he  took  his  name. 
The  holy  hermit  Peter  was  more  than  seventy-two  years 
old,  and  doubtlessly  he  presented  the  appearance  of  one 
bordering  on  the  grave,  when  at  the  end  of  a  day  in  July 
the  deputies  of  the  conclave  arrived  in  Sulmona,  to  bear  to 
him  the  honor  of  the  pontifical  tiara.  They  were  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  the  bishop  of  Orvieto  and  the  bishop  of 
Porto,  together  with  two  Apostolic  Notaries.  At  the  break 
of  day  they  set  out  to  ascend  the  mountain ;  and  while  wet 
with  perspiration  and  out  of  breath  they  were  ascending 


Q2  HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

by  a  little  narrow  path,  they  see  coming  near  to  them  and 
overtaking  them  Cardinal  Peter  Colonna,  who  to  make 
himself  the  first  bearer  of  a  so  joyful  message,  had  come 
quickly  from  Perugia.  They  arrived  at  a  small  enclosure 
surrounded  by  a  wall,  the  opening  to  which  was  a  small 
gate,  and  further  on  there  was  a  little  cell  which  a  wall 
divided  into  two  very  narrow  rooms.  On  the  outside  wall 
there  was  a  window,  that  would  not  admit  the  head  of  an 
observer,  because  it  had  been  provided  with  iron  bars,  at 
which  the  Saint  placed  himself  in  his  infrequent  conversa- 
tions with  visitors. 

Before  this  window  presented  themselves  the  bearers  of 
such  great  news.  In  the  little  cell  they  saw  a  very  old  man, 
clothed  in  rough  skins,  and  disconcerted  by  the  sight  of 
them.  His  beard  was  white  and  shaggy;  his  cheeks  fur- 
rowed, and  his  entire  person  enfeebled  by  long  fasts.  From 
out  the  pallor  of  his  countenance  two  black  eyes,  suffused 
with  tears,  spoke  of  the  sweetness  of  the  soul  enamored  of 
its  God.  Although  in  such  squalor,  the  hermit  and  the  cell 
emitted  the  very  air  of  Paradise.  At  such  a  sight  struck 
dumb  and  filled  with  holy  admiration,  the  prelates  un- 
covered their  heads,  and  falling  down  reverently  kissed  the 
ground ;  the  holy  hermit  did  the  same.  The  Archbishop  of 
Lyons  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence,  explaining  to  Peter 
how  he  had  been  chosen  Supreme  Pontiff.  He  likened  the 
Church  to  a  ship  tossed  to  and  fro  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind 
and  waves,  awaiting  him  to  unfurl  the  sails,  grasp  the 
helm  and  guide  it  to  the  port  of  safety.  And  thus  speak- 
ing, he  displayed  to  the  eyes  of  the  bewildered  hermit  the 
sealed  papers,  which  contained  the  important  decree. 

Overwhelmed  by  the  greatness  of  the  office,  and  the 
honor  which  they  desired  to  bestow  on  him,  the  poor  her- 
mit knew  not  what  to  do.  Before  giving  an  answer  he 
would  first  interrogate  God  in  prayer,  and  they  should 
pray  with  him.  He  then  received  through  the  window  the 
wonderful  document,  and  retired.51  Prostrating  himself 

"The  original  of  this  decree,  bearing  the  seals  in  red  wax  of  the  eleven 
cardinals,  was  preserved  in  the  Abbey  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  Sulmona. 
Afterwards  by  the  order  of  Clement  VIII  it  was  placed  in  the  Vatican 
archives,  after  having  passed  successively  through  the  hands  of  Cardinals 
Facchinetto,  Bellarmine  and  Baronius. — Vide  Suppl.  Life  of  St.  Peter 
Celestine,  by  Lelii  Marini,  ch.  8,  apud  Boll.  Maii  T.  4. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  53 

"he  prayed  to  know  the  will  of  God.  Shortly  afterwards  he 
returned  to  the  messengers,  telling  them  that  he  would  ac- 
cept the  office  of  supreme  pontiff.  Hardly  had  he  finished 
speaking,  when  they  cast  themselves  at  his  feet  and  kissed 
them,  notwithstanding  they  were  covered  with  poor  and 
coarse  shoes. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  election  had  spread,  an  in- 
credible number  of  people  flocked  to  see  him,  and  to  re- 
ceive the  blessing  of  the  invisible  hermit,  so  unexpectedly 
raised  to  such  a  high  dignity.  Charles  II,  the  Lame,  with 
his  son  Charles  Martel,  came  with  alacrity  to  see  him,  not 
only  to  receive  his  blessing,  but  also  to  enter  into  his  good 
graces,  and  direct  and  rule  him.  The  success  of  his  plan 
was  not  difficult.  Peter  had  no  decision  of  character,  be- 
cause he  was  old  and  enfeebled  by  penances  and  his  mind 
was  ill-adapted  to  perceive  the  cunning  of  the  children  of 
Adam.  He  had  no  knowledge  of  mankind,  because  from 
his  youth  he  had  fled  from  society ;  his  mind  was  not  culti- 
vated by  study,  being  satisfied  only  with  that  joy  of  heart 
which  he  felt  in  his  contemplations  of  God:  and  thus  de- 
void of  human  resources,  he  could  not  deliver  himself  from 
the  impositions  of  the  royalty  and  the  common  people. 
Charles  II  troubled  him,  and  the  advocates  of  the  Curia 
harassed  him.  Ignorant  of  the  laws,  he  summoned  laymen 
and  jurists  to  his  support,52  who  knowing  and  adopting  the 
best  means  of  ingratiating  themselves  in  the  needful  soul 
of  the  new  Pontiff,  settled  there.  To  establish  themselves 
firmly  in  that  position  they  displayed  certain  deferences 
to  the  cardinals  and  clerics,  insomuch  that  Peter,  con- 
trary to  custom,  chose  a  layman  as  secretary.53  To  Charles 
and  the  advocates  of  the  Curia  were  added  twelve  Celes- 

*  "  Jacob.  S.  Georg.     ..."  laicaeque  manus  subrepere  passim. 
Consiliis  tentant  divi  in  precordia  Patris 
Ecclesiae.  Nam  gnarus  opes  et  jurgia  mundi 
Temnere,   pomposam  Juris  vitaverat   artem. 
.     .     .     .     quo  factum  est,  ut  sibi  magni 
Crederet  hie  Laicos,  quos  Juris  in  arte  peritos 

Prudentesque       ratus 

.     .     .     .     dum  metuit  Peter  almus  fraudibus  arctum 
Ingenium  ,vinci   Procerum,   dubiique   sodales 
Redduntur  Fratres,  proprium  ne  forte  Senatus. 
Campellat  mutare  gradum." 

"*  Ibid.  "  .       .  deerat  fiducia  Cleri," 


64  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill. 

tine  monks,  pious  men,  but  rough  and  uncultured,54  who 
hedged  him  in,  who  influenced  him,  and  who  would  never 
let  him  leave  them.  Thus  did  the  holy  old  man  all  at  once 
remain  confined  in  the  clutches  of  Charles,  in  the  cunning 
of  the  greedy  employees  of  the  Curia,  and  in  the  small  and 
indiscreet  ambitious  projects  of  his  monks.  So  that  he 
did  not  act,  and  did  not  undertake  anything  unless  at  the 
instance  of  Charles,  and  by  the  advice  of  those  around  him 
of  whom  we  have  spoken.  In  the  meanwhile  the  Cardinal 
electors  still  remained  in  Perugia  expecting  the  Pope  elect 
to  come  to  meet  them  as  they  had  besought  him  to  do,  in  a 
letter  which  was  attached  to  the  decree  of  election.  But 
instead  of  seeing  the  Pope,  they  received  a  letter  from  him, 
in  which  he  announced  that  he  was  not  able  to  travel  so 
far.  Accustomed  to  the  snows  of  the  Abruzzi  mountains, 
he  could  not  bear  the  summer  heat ;  being  a  very  old  man 
he  had  not  sufficient  strength  for  the  journey,  and  hence 
they  should  rather  come  to  him.  The  Fathers  perceived 
which  way  the  wind  of  Mt.  Morrone  blew,  since  it  is  sup- 
posed that  they  already  knew  how  affairs  were  directed. 
But  they  would  not  yield.  They  urged  their  request;  he 
should  come  on  a  litter;  he  should  leave  the  kingdom,  or 
in  other  words,  remove  himself  from  the  influence  of 
Charles.  He  was  unwilling,  because  Charles  was  unwill- 
ing.55 The  hesitation  and  delay  of  the  Cardinals  in  com- 
ing were  not  displeasing  to  Charles.  Time  with  him  was 
precious,  and  he  used  it  admirably.  According  to  Ste- 
pheneschi  he  persuaded  the  holy  Pope  to  repair  to  the  grow- 
ing city  of  Aquila  to  receive  the  pontifical  insignia,56  and  to 
begin  immediately  to  appoint  new  Cardinals  in  the  choice 
of  whom  the  impertinent  prince  would  show  his  power. 
Peter  entered  Aquila  triumphantly,  but  mounted  on  a 
mule,  the  two  kings  on  foot  holding  the  bridle.  Opinions 
vary  concerning  that  spectacle.  Some  praised  Peter,  call- 
ing to  mind  Christ  entering  Jerusalem ;  while  others  would 
rather  have  seen  that  humility  less  displayed. 

The  cardinals  departed  from  Perugia  startled  by  this 
intelligence.  Their  saddened  minds  perceived  the  mis- 
fortunes which  in  the  future  would  befall  the  Church  under 

**Ibid.  "...  non  culta  satis,  sed  rustica  turba." 

06  Ptol.  Luc.  C.  30  "  ad  instantiam  Regis  venire  recusat." 

"Ptolemy  Eccl.  History  C.  29.     "Ad  instantiam  Regis,  et  suorum." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  55 

the  weak  rule  of  the  Saint.  We  know  not  whether  they 
felt  regret  for  having  raised  him  to  such  a  high  office,  but 
it  is  certain  that  Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  a  contemporary  writer, 
and  an  eye-witness  of  the  things  he  relates,  assures  us  that 
Cardinal  Latino  Malabranca,  on  the  day  that  he  died  in 
Perugia,  the  10th  of  August,  bore  on  his  soul  to  eternity 
the  weight  of  that  election,57  to  which  afterwards  all  the 
other  cardinals  had  agreed.  Their  manner  of  going  sepa- 
rately to  Aquila,  proved  their  little  satisfaction ; 58  and 
they  went  more  to  ward  off  dangers,  than  to  honor  Celes- 
tine.59  The  latter  in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of 
people  received  the  papal  insignia  from  the  hands  of  Na- 
poleon Orsini,  who  had  come  from  Perugia  with  Cardinal 
Hugh  of  St.  Sabina.  The  new  Pope  took  the  name  of 
Celestine  V. 

Benedict  Gaetani  was  the  only  one  who  still  lingered  in 
Perugia.  We  know  not  with  what  ardor  he  acquiesced  in 
the  election  of  the  holy  hermit,  but  we  are  certain  that  he 
more  than  the  others  beheld  and  foresaw  its  sad  conse- 
quences for  the  Church.  He  heard  certain  rumors  of  the 
infamous  actions  and  iniquitous  practices  of  the  ministers. 
The  employees  of  the  Curia  were  reaping  a  harvest  in  the 
Papal  Court,  abusing  the  holy  seal,  by  dispensing  benefi- 
ces recklessly  and  with  such  a  great  cupidity  for  gain,  that 
often  the  same  gift  of  prebend  was  found  to  be  given  to 
many.  They  had  the  parchments  already  stamped  with  the 
papal  seal,  so  as  to  be  prepared  to  write  that  which  would 
better  satisfy  their  thirst  for  gold.  The  saintly  Pope 
neither  saw  nor  heard  of  these  transactions.  Charles 
ruled,  and  swayed  the  mind  of  Celestine  according  to  his 
own  pleasure,  and  held  him,  as  it  were,  a  prisoner.  In 
fact  he  was  a  puppet  in  his  hands.  Gaetani  heard,  and  de- 
layed to  go  and  pay  his  respects  to  the  Pope,  tempering 
his  mind  through  these  deplorable  facts  by  feelings  of 
noble  indignation,  which  were  to  break  forth  in  his  own 
pontificate.  It  was  said  that  Gaetani  refrained  from  going 
to  Aquila,  in  order  not  to  meet  Charles,  whom  he  had  re- 

w  Ptolemy  Eccl.  History,  c.  30,  "  in  quo  totum  pondus  incumbebat  super 
electrione  Caelestini."  MPtol.  Eccl.  Hist.,  c.  31.  "aliqui  procedunt  ad 
Papam,  aliqui  subsequuntur  versus  Aquilam."  w  James  St.  Georg.,  c.  175. 
" .  .  .  celerant  ad  tanta  pericula  cursum." 


66  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

buked  and  wounded  deeply  in  the  conclave  at  Perugia.60 
But  finally  with  the  desire  of  repairing  so  much  disorder 
by  his  judgment  and  good  sense,  and  not  to  appear  disre- 
spectful to  the  Pontiff,  he  went  to  Aquila. 

When  he  arrived  there  he  found  that  the  reports  were 
not  exaggerated  but  true.  His  heart  was  filled  writh  grief 
because  of  the  degradation  to  which  the  Papacy  had  been 
subjected.  This  feeling  arose  not  only  from  holiness  of 
heart,  but  also  from  strength  and  nobility  of  soul,  chiefly 
because  the  outrage  on  the  Apostolic  See  was  committed 
by  the  enemy  Charles,  and  by  a  handful  of  rascally  advo- 
cates of  the  Curia.  However  for  the  honor  of  the  Church 
he  set  about  to  take  into  his  own  hands  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment, which  were  held  so  loosely  by  the  hands  of  Celes- 
tine.  So  great  was  the  authority  which  his  high  ability, 
his  skill  in  management  of  affairs,  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  canons  gave  him,  that  he  became  most  powerful,  and  as 
it  were  the  master  of  the  Papal  Curia.  Ptolemy  of  Lucca, 
relating  how  well  Gaetani  knew  how  to  conduct  his  own 
affairs,  insinuates  that  he  possessed  himself  of  power,  more 
for  his  own  private  interests,  than  for  the  good  of  the 
Church.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  kind  of  pre- 
ponderance or  dominion  of  Gaetani  was  in  the  Papal 
Curia,  and  not  over  the  Papal  Curia.  This  Curia  could 
then  be  divided  into  two  parts,  one  composed  of  Charles, 
the  advocates  of  the  Court,  the  Celestine  Monks,  and  of 
John  of  Castrocielo,  a  Cassinese  monk,  Archbishop  of 
Benevento,  who  had  known  how  to  enter  into  the  good 
graces  of  the  Pope,  by  taking  off  his  dark  habit,  and  put- 
ting on  the  gray  color  of  the  Celestine  monks;61  and  of 
some  French  cardinals.  The  other  part  was  composed  of 
all  the  cardinals  who  raged  against  Charles  and  deplored 
the  weakness  of  the  Pope.  Gaetani  could  not  be  the  mas- 
ter of  both  these  parties,  opposed  as  they  were  to  each 
other,  but  it  might  be  said  that  he  was  rather  the  leader 
of  that  party  which  opposed  the  artifices  of  Charles  the 
Lame,  with  whom  he  was  in  such  bad  favor.  This  domi- 
nation was  founded  in  the  dependence  they  had  on  him,  as 

80  Ptolemy  Eccl.  History,  chapter  31.  "et  dubitabatur  quia  non  veniret, 
quia  Regem  verbis  offenderat  in  Perusio." 

MJac.  S.  Georg.,  c.  77-275.  .  .  .  Monachi  dimissis  vestibus  atris, 
Praesulis  induitur  habitum,  pertingere  sperans  Irrubare  caput. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  £7 

a  man  of  singular  ability  above  all  the  other  cardinals.  In 
fact  even  after  his  arrival  things  were  going  from  bad  to 
worse,  as  it  appears  from  that  desire  of  the  Pope  to  change 
into  Celestines  all  the  monks  of  St.  Benedict,  and  to  put 
the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino  into  a  scandalous  con- 
fusion by  stripping  the  monks  of  the  dark  habit;  and  es- 
pecially that  creation  of  new  cardinals,  all  the  work  of 
Charles.  The  fact  of  Gaetani  not  having  taken  part  in 
that  affair  shows  that  he  and  the  king  continued  to  view 
each  other  askance.  In  the  ember  days  of  September  Celes- 
tine  created  twelve  cardinals,  seven  of  whom  were  French, 
and  five  Italians  all  creatures  of  Charles.  And  this  is 
how  the  deed  was  done.  Charles  and  Hugh  Sequin,  Bishop 
of  Ostia,  designated  a  long  time  ahead  those  who  were  to 
be  made  cardinals,  and  their  names  were  given  to  the 
simple-minded  Pope,  who  in  all  things  did  the  pleasure  of 
Charles,  and  these  names  were  kept  concealed  from  all  the 
other  cardinals.  Only  Hugh  Sequin  was  taken  into  the 
secret,  as  we  have  said,  and  two  Roman  cardinals,  who  it 
is  almost  certain  were  the  two  Orsini,  because  in  the  con- 
clave they  were  ardent  partisans  of  Charles.  It  cannot  be 
supposed  that  Gaetani  was  one  of  these,  because  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  Stephaneschi  to  call  only  those  Romans,  who 
were  natives  of  Rome.  In  fact  among  the  twelve  elected 
was  John  Gaetani  of  Anagni  and  he  declares  that  not  one 
of  them  was  a  Roman.62  Nothing  of  the  secret  was  al- 
lowed to  leak  out.  On  Friday  the  vigil  of  their  creation 
the  names  of  the  elect  were  made  known  to  the  cardinals, 
who  were  deeply  wounded  by  this  proceeding,  and  with  rea- 
son, because  the  Pope  should  have  consulted  them  rather 
than  Charles.  Thus  that  mastery  over  the  Papal  Curia 
which  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  affirms,  does  not  appear  from 
the  fact  so  important  as  a  notable  increase  in  the  college 
of  the  Cardinals ;  so  it  remains  evident  that  up  to  the  18th 
of  September  Gaetani  was  certainly  not  among  the  friends 
of  Charles.63 

It  is  true  that  Charles  feared  him,  and  he  had  good  rea- 
son to  fear  him  from  Perugia,  and  hence  in  order  to  pre- 
vent a  storm  which  he  would  have  raised  among  the  other 

B  See  Note  D. 

63  Id.  ib     ...   nullum,  queem  subdita  sedi  Imniediata  porit  tellus,  ex 
ordine  Patrum  Murro  dedit.  . 


gg  HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

cardinals  because  of  the  royal  selection  of  cardinals,  to  ap- 
pease him  and  gain  his  favor,  he  caused  John  Gaetani,  a 
nephew  of  Benedict,  to  be  made  a  cardinal.  But  the  slav- 
ery into  which  the  Church  was  reduced  by  Charles  would 
not  allow  the  minds  of  Gaetani  and  the  other  cardinals  to 
be  appeased,  so  greatly  distressed  and  desperate  were  they 
by  reason  of  the  bad  government  of  Celestine.  Affairs 
reached  a  climax  when,  the  season  now  having  become 
cooler,  believing  that  the  Pope  should  repair  to  Rome,  they 
beheld  him  most  tenacious  of  his  decision  to  follow  the 
advice  of  Charles  and  go  instead  to  Naples.64  The  arti- 
fices of  Charles  the  Lame,  were  shameful  and  barefaced, 
but  the  Saint  did  not  perceive  all  the  evil  that  they  con- 
tained. They  were  exasperated  also  by  the  revival  and  re- 
newal which  Celestine  made  of  the  constitution  of  Greg- 
ory X  concerning  the  holding  and  the  regulation  of  a  con- 
clave. 

This  constitution  ordains  that,  ten  days  having  elapsed 
from  the  death  of  the  Pontiff,  the  cardinals  without  wait- 
ing for  the  absentees  are  to  assemble  in  a  place  strictly  and 
securely  locked.  Neither  by  letter  nor  by  word  of  mouth 
nor  by  any  other  sign  are  those  in  conclave  to  hold  inter- 
course with  an  outsider,  under  pain  of  anathema  to  the 
transgressor.  They  are  to  remain  there  until  they  have 
chosen  a  successor.  Should,  however,  more  than  three  days 
elapse  before  a  choice  is  made,  for  the  next  five  days  their 
fare  shall  consist  of  one  dish,  after  which  it  is  reduced  to 
bread  and  water  and  wine,  which  shall  be  their  only  nour- 
ishment until  their  work  is  done.  The  revival  and  renewal 
of  the  Gregorian  Bull  wounded  deeply  the  electors,  so  un- 
disciplined had  they  been  in  the  late  conclave  and  so  agi- 
tated. This  decree  was  followed  by  another,  releasing 
Charles  from  the  oath  required  of  him  by  the  cardinals, 
not  to  detain  them  and  confine  them  in  his  kingdom,  in 
the  event  of  choosing  the  new  Pope  after  the  death  of  Celes- 
tine. So  that  Charles  the  Lame,  by  this  Bull  and  by  the 
opportune  release  from  his  oath,  was  promising  himself  to 
hold  in  his  own  hands  the  imprisoned  cardinals  choosing 
the  new  Pope,  or  in  other  w.ords,  to  create  him  himself. 
But  we  shall  see  later  how  these  pre-conceived  hopes  van- 

84  Jac.  S.  Georg.  ..."  Subductus  Carolo  coetuque  sequente  Par- 
thenopen  deflexit  iter. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  69 

ished  in  smoke.  Finally  their  minds  surcharged  with  in- 
dignation broke  out  in  open  and  forcible  clamors  at  the 
sight  of  John  of  Castrocielo,  Benedictine  Archbishop  of 
Benevento,  being  suddenly  made  a  cardinal  by  Celestine 
without  even  the  ceremonies  of  creation.  For  one  evening 
after  supper,  no  sooner  was  it  said,  than  he  transformed 
him  into  a  cardinal.  The  exasperated  prelates  gave  ex- 
pression to  downright  disapproval  and  to  such  vehement 
denunciation  that  John  was  forced  to  lay  aside  the  irregu- 
larly received  dignity,  and  Celestine  had  to  confer  it  with 
the  usual  ceremonies  of  installation.  So  raising  around 
the  Saint,  if  not  a  reverent,  at  least  a  not  unjust  tempest, 
they  followed  him  to  Naples.65 

The  cardinals  in  their  displeasure  and  indignation  at  the 
actions  of  Celestine,  because  they  openly  despaired  of  any 
amelioration,  had  commenced  from  the  time  they  were  in 
Aquila  to  broach  and  whisper  words  of  abdication.  In 
spite  of  the  efforts  which  Charles  might  make  to  dissuade 
the  Saint  from  the  untoward  temptation,  undoubtedly  the 
thought  entered  the  mind  of  the  good  Pontiff.  In  fact  in 
that  revived  constitution  of  Gregory  X,  he  speaks  not  only 
of  the  case  of  death,  but  also  of  renunciation,  a  sign  that 
the  latter  was  already  fixed  in  his  heart.  So  the  more 
things  went  wrong,  the  more  openly  did  some  of  the  cardi- 
nals act,  and  they  began  to  urge  the  Saint  to  resign  the 
Papacy,  telling  him  openly,  that  so  long  as  he  remained 
Pontiff,  the  affairs  of  the  Roman  Church  would  be  imper- 
illed and  be  ever  in  confusion.66  It  would  not  be  unlikely 
to  suppose  that  Gaetani  was  one  of  those  who  urged  him 
to  resign.  Those  incentives  to  resign,  and  the  charging 
him  with  the  evils  of  the  Church  threw  the  mind  of  the 
Saint  into  great  consternation;  and  since  he  had  not  cov- 
eted the  unexpected  honors  of  the  Papacy,  nor  after  assum- 
ing them  was  he  elated,  he  became  strongly  apprehensive 
of  the  dangers  of  his  soul. 

Advent  approached.  He  had  always  sanctified  this  sea- 
son by  extraordinary  austerity,  and  he  did  not  wish  as 

"Jac.  S.  Georg.,  cap.  11. 

"Ptolemy  of  Lucca.  Eccl.  History,  c.  32.  "Multum  stimulatur  ab 
aliquibus  Cardinalibus  quod  Papatum  cedat,  quia  Ecclesia  Romana  sub 
ipso  periclitabatur,  et  sub  eo  confundebatur." 


70  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Pope  to  intermit  the  pious  custom.  He  had  caused  to  be 
built  in  the  papal  palace  a  miserable  little  wooden  cell, 
which  reminded  him  of  the  one  on  Mt.  Morrone,  and  in 
this  he  shut  himself  up ;  and  he  left  in  the  hands  of  three 
cardinals  the  chief  management  of  affairs,  and  all  care  of 
government,  retaining  for  himself  only  the  thought  of  his 
soul  and  of  God.  We  do  not  know  who  these  delegates 
were.  The  Bull  of  this  deputation  had  been  already  writ- 
ten, when  having  returned  to  Kome  Orsini  withheld  him 
from  its  publication,  so  that  it  might  not  be  said  that  the 
Church  was  governed  not  by  one,  but  by  three  Popes.  The 
reader  may  imagine  how  these  three  cardinals  raged 
against  Orsini.  These  dissensions  disturbed  the  mind  of 
Celestine  continually,  and  he  was  convinced  that  they  hap- 
pened through  his  own  fault. 

These  troubles  of  mind  had  increased  in  the  solitude  in 
which  he  placed  himself.  Bright  visions  of  the  once  happy 
life  he  had  on  Mt.  Morrone,  unintimidated  by  papal  pomp, 
were  confidently  presented  to  his  mind,  and  infused  into 
his  soul  pleasures  and  sweetnesses  that  worldly  honors  do 
not  confer.  Then  he  longed  most  eagerly  for  the  lonely 
rock  of  Morrone,  and  his  heart  was  frightened  by  the  fear 
of  hell  into  which  he  might  fall  headlong  for  the  evils  he 
was  known  to  have  brought  upon  the  Church  by  his  short- 
comings. And  in  this  longing  for  the  past,  in  grief  for  the 
present,  and  in  fear  for  the  future,  he  went  for  spiritual 
advice  to  Fra  Jacopone  of  Todi,  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
later,  who  although  not  ordained,  was  yet  pious  and  strong 
in  the  pursuit  of  evangelical  perfection.  He  was  one  of 
the  Franciscan  friars  who  were  the  dearly-beloved  of 
Celestine,  on  account  of  the  singular  severity  of  the  life 
they  led.  The  Friar  admonished  him :  that  he  should  take 
care ;  that  the  Papacy  was  for  him  a  terrible  experiment,  in 
which  his  sanctity  would  be  tested ;  that  he  was  a  spectacle 
for  the  eyes  of  all;  that  he  should  consider  the  Roman 
Curia  as  a  furnace  in  which  gold  is  tried  and  separated 
from  the  dross ;  a  great  unhappiness  to  lose  God  for  that ; 
that  he  should  have  been  averse  to  placing  around  his  neck 
a  yoke,  the  acceptance  of  which  could  hurl  him  to  eternal 
perdition;  finally  that  he  should  flee  the  frauds  and  de- 
ceits of  the  advocates  of  the  Curia,  and  of  the  flatterers 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  71 

intent  solely  on  their  own  gain.  He  should  look  to  him- 
self.67 

No  one  can  express  the  consternation  which  these  ad- 
monitions of  Jacopone  produced  in  the  mind  of  the  holy 
old  man.  His  conscience  smote  him  for  the  bad  condition 
of  affairs;  he  feared  the  divine  punishment;  he  wished  to 
cast  far  away  the  enormous  burden  of  the  pontificate.  In 
the  midst  of  his  sighs  he  cried  out  from  the  depth  of  his 
anguished  heart :  "  Oh,  miserable — me !  Oh,  wretch  that  I 
"  am !  They  tell  me  that  I  have  command  over  souls,  and 
"  why  is  it  that  I  have  no  power  over  my  own,  and  assure 
"its  salvation?  And  what  is  this  the  Lord  has  done? 
"  Has  He  perhaps  placed  me  so  high,  in  order  to  hurl  me 
"  down  further  in  the  depths  below?  Every  day  I  have  a 
"  complaint,  a  murmur  against  me.  I  see  the  cardinals 
"  jarring,  and  quarrelling  among  themselves.  .  .  .  What 
"  shall  I  do?  ...  Is  it  not  better  for  me  to  break  the 
"  chains  which  bind  me  to  this  most  fatal  throne,  and  to 
"  leave  it  to  one  who  may  know  how  to  sit  on  it,  and  let 
"  me  then  take  myself  after  such  a  storm  to  the  port  of  my 
"  little  cell." 

Whilst  he  was  revolving  these  thoughts  in  his  mind,  he 
took  by  chance  in  his  hand  a  certain  little  book  containing 
a  compendium  of  the  ecclesiastical  canons,  to  which  he 
was  wont  to  have  recourse  for  advice  during  his  life  as  a 
hermit;  and  turning  over  the  pages,  his  eyes  rested  on 
one,  which  told  how  a  cleric  can  resign  a  dignity  or  bene- 
fice for  a  just  reason  with  the  consent  of  his  superior. 
This  canon  seemed  to  be  his  liberator,  and  he  gave  the  en- 
tire consideration  of  his  mind  to  it;  but  there  being  no 
one  superior  to  him,  into  whose  hands  he  could  resign  the 
Papacy,  this  fact  threw  him  into  a  state  of  great  uncer- 
tainty. He  wished  to  issue  from  it.  He  went  for  counsel 
and  advice  to  him,  who  among  all  the  cardinals,  was  the 
most  renowned  for  sound  judgment  and  learning,  Bene- 
dict Gaetani.  This  man  entered  the  small,  dark  cell,  being 
called  to  pass  judgment  on  a  matter,  which  was  to  remove 
the  papal  tiara  from  the  head  of  Celestine  to  his  own.  And 
having  heard  the  question,  he  replied  in  a  manner  which 
concealed  his  interior  delight,68  that  he  could  resign,  when- 

«  Book  1,  Satire  XV.— See  Bollandists,  May  T.  V.,  p.  523. 

""Ille  tamen  cautus  mentem  simulare."     Jac.  S.  Georg.,  c.  111. 


72  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

ever  there  was  a  sufficient  reason  to  do  so;  and  alleged  the 
example  of  another  pope  who  had  also  resigned.  The  Saint 
answered  that  a  sufficient  reason  was  not  wanting.  And 
that  was  all  that  transpired  between  them.69  But  the 
mind  of  Celestine  was  not  satisfied  by  that  advice ;  and  so 
he  summoned  another  counsellor.  He  gave  the  same  opin- 
ion. And  as  yet  not  contented,  he  interrogated  some  other 
of  the  cardinals. 

These  consultations  of  the  Saint  could  not  be  kept  so 
secret,  as  to  be  withheld  from  the  knowledge  of  those  who 
certainly  did  not  care  to  see  him  retire  from  the  Papacy. 
These  were  especially  those  froward  Celestine  monks, 
whom  Stephaneschi  insists  upon  calling  rough  and  un- 
couth men.  They  wondered  greatly  at  this  novelty  and  they 
sent  a  pressing  remonstrance  to  the  Saint,  representing, 
how,  if  he  laid  aside  the  pontifical  dignity,  they  would  be 
exposed  to  all  manner  of  insults;  and  his  beloved  congre- 
gation would  die  at  its  birth.  They  did  not  rely  alone  on 
their  own  remonstrances.  They  raised  a  pious  tumult 
among  the  people  of  Naples,  accustomed  to  such  excite- 
ment, who  with  irreverent  importunity  having  broken 
through  the  outer  doors  of  the  papal  palace,  forced  an  en- 
trance into  the  cell  of  the  Saint.  There  some  of  the  chief 
men  conjured  him  in  the  name  of  God  to  dismiss  from  his 
mind  the  idea  of  resigning,  which  would  deprive  all  the 
kingdom  of  so  great  an  honor.  Celestine  met  their  remon- 
strances with  a  suitable  reply,  which  disguised  the  unalter- 
ability  of  his  purpose. 

Having  weathered  this  storm,  the  Saint  set  about  imme- 
diately to  put  into  effect  that  which  lie  had  for  a  long  time 
contemplated.  The  cardinals  being  called  together,  he 
humbly  declared  his  inability  to  bear  any  longer  the  bur- 
den of  the  supreme  pontificate,  and  asked  them  publicly 
for  their  advice.  The  cardinals  replied,  that  he  should 
allow  his  desire  to  mature;  that  he  should  shun  his  evil 
advisers ;  and  that  he  should  order  public  prayers  in  order 
to  know  the  will  of  God  in  an  affair  of  so  great  importance. 

These  public  prayers,  which  the  cardinals  recommended, 
served  as  a  favorable  occasion  for  Charles  to  delay  the 
execution  of  the  designs  of  Celestine.  He  summoned  apart 
the  clergy  of  Naples,  who  if  they  did  not  regard  Celestine 

*  The  same  author. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  73 

in  the  same  light  as  Charles,  yet  considered  him  a  Neapoli- 
tan Pope,  and  loved  and  revered  him  as  a  saint.  Then  he 
arranged  a  procession  in  which  all  the  priests  and  friars 
marched,  and  together  with  these  as  many  bishops  as  he 
could  collect,  and  they  proceeded  to  the  castle  in  which 
Celestine  dwelt.  Friar  Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  who  was  present, 
mentions  no  cardinal  among  them.  As  soon  as  these  sup- 
pliants had  arrived  at  the  door  of  the  palace,  according  to 
custom,  they  began  in  a  loud  voice  to  entreat  Celestine  to 
impart  to  them  the  papal  benediction.  Not  to  show  irrev- 
erence to  a  sacred  ceremony,  Celestine  came  to  a  window  in 
company  with  three  bishops  and  gave  the  blessing.  Then 
a  certain  bishop,  an  agent  of  the  King,  besought  the  Pope 
to  listen  to  them ;  and  as  soon  as  silence  reigned,  in  a  loud 
voice  that  was  heard  by  all  those  in  the  procession,  he 
cried  out :  "  That  they  did  not  want  him  to  resign ;  that  he 
should  remain  for  the  glory  of  the  kingdom."  Then  one  of 
the  aforesaid  three  bishops  from  above  replied  for  the  Pope. 
"  That  they  should  quiet  their  fears ;  that  he  would  not 
"  resign  as  long  as  there  did  not  appear  a  reason  contrary 
"  to  his  conscience,  which  directed  him."  The  royal  mes- 
senger was  satisfied;  and  as  a  sign  of  their  joy  in  the  loud- 
est tones  they  began  to  sing  the  Te  Deum,  and  the  joyful 
procession  marched  back  to  the  Cathedral.70 

But  Celestine  was  frightened  by  the  fear  of  losing  his 
soul  in  the  Papacy,  and  seeing  the  way  open  by  the  advice 
of  Gaetani  and  other  cardinals,  he  did  not  allow  himself 
to  be  overcome  either  by  the  procession,  or  by  the  cry  the 
King  made  by  the  mouth  of  the  bishop.  For  almost  eight 
days  he  spoke  not  a  word  of  his  resignation,  in  order  to 
stifle  his  feelings,  and  not  be  molested.  During  that  time 
going  again  to  Gaetani,  he  was  instructed  by  him  in  all 
he  would  have  to  do,  as  he  desired  to  perform  the  act  of 
abdication  so  that  the  canonical  form  would  not  be  want- 
ing, and  he  made  him  draw  up  the  act  of  the  great  resig- 
nation.71 After  this  was  performed,  on  the  13th  of  Decem- 
ber the  feast  of  St.  Lucy,  he  summoned  the  cardinals  in 
consistory.  And  being  clothed  in  the  red  cloak,  and  all 
the  other  insignia  which  the  Pope  wears  in  the  solemn 
ceremonies,  Celestine  entered  the  assembly,  and  seated 

"Ptolemy  of  Lucca.  Eccl.  History,  c.  32. 

"Anonymous.     Life  of  St.  Celestine.  MS.  Vatic.  Arm.  XII. 


74  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

himself.  Under  the  cloak  he  carried  the  act  of  resignation. 
The  cardinals  knew  of  his  intended  resignation,  but  they 
did  not  know  when  it  would  take  place.  He  commanded 
them  to  remain  quiet,  and  not  dare  say  a  word;  then  un- 
folding it,  in  a  clear  voice  he  read  the  famous  act :  "  I, 
"  Celestine,  moved  by  legitimate  reasons,  that  is  to  say,  for 
"  the  sake  of  humility,  of  a  perfect  life,  and  for  ease  of 
"  conscience ;  on  account  of  weakness  of  body,  of  want  of 
"  knowledge,  of  grief  occasioned  to  the  people,  and  in  order 
"  to  regain  the  peace  of  my  former  state  of  life,  with  all 
"  my  soul,  and  freely  I  surrender  the  Papacy,  and  I  ex- 
tl  pressly  resign  the  chair,  the  dignity,  the  burden  and  the 
"  honor,  giving  from  this  instant  full  and  free  power  to 
"  the  College  of  Cardinals  to  choose  and  provide,  but  only 
"in  a  canonical  way,  a  new  pastor  for  the  universal 
Church."  During  the  reading  of  this  the  cardinals,  deeply 
moved  by  the  great  humility  of  the  Saint,  could  not  re- 
strain their  tears.  Fearing  that  the  mere  assent  of  the 
College  of  Cardinals  to  his  resignation  might  not  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  validity  of  the  act,  at  the  instance  of  Matthew 
Orsini,  the  oldest  of  the  Cardinal  deacons,  he  published  a 
special  constitution  covering  the  ground,  in  which  he  de- 
clared a  Pope  might  abdicate,  and  that  the  College  of 
Cardinals  was  competent  to  receive  the  act  of  abdication. 
This  was  embodied  in  the  Sixth  of  the  Decretals.  This 
being  settled,  Celestine  divested  himself  in  their  presence 
of  all  the  papal  insignia,  and  having  resumed  the  hairy 
garment  he  wore  on  Mt.  Morrone,  he  departed  from  the 
consistory.  The  cardinals  accompanied  him,  and  with 
many  tears  recommended  to  his  prayers  the  Church  de- 
prived of  a  pastor.  Thus  did  Pope  Celestine  V,  after  five 
months  and  nine  days,  leave  the  papal  chair,  not  thrust 
down,  not  induced,  not  deceived,  at  least  by  Gaetani. 
Some  writers  detract  from  the  greatness  of  that  act,  and 
bestow  on  it  a  vile  character.  Among  these  is  the  irasci- 
ble Dante,  who  in  the  departure  of  Celestine  from  the 
Papacy  rabidly  deplores  the  entrance  into  it  of  the  de- 
tested Boniface.  But  as  the  possibility  of  such  a  resigna- 
tion having  arisen  solely  from  the  timidity  of  the  re- 
nouncer  did  not  enter  their  minds,  they  must  then,  either 
by  conjecture,  or  by  an  evil  interpretation  of  circum- 
stances, or  from  a  prejudiced  opinion  of  the  natural  dispo- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  75 

sition  of  Benedict  Gaetani,  attribute  it  also  to  his  artifices. 
And  let  the  reader  know  that  the  story  of  these  artifices 
began  after  his  elevation  to  the  Papacy;  and  if  Gaetani 
had  never  become  Pope,  there  would  have  been  no  mention 
of  these  artifices  impelling  the  simple  old  saint  Celestine 
to  resign.  Other  writers  extol  to  the  heavens  the  abdi- 
cation, as  the  act  of  an  angel  and  not  of  a  man,  claiming, 
that  the  act  of  discarding  the  insignia  of  St.  Peter  through 
fear  of  sin,  is  such  a  great  spiritual  disposition  of  soul, 
that  does  not  generally  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  sons  of  Adam. 
Among  these  is  the  moderate  Petrarch.72  But  the  true 
estimate  of  him  was  that  given  by  Clement  V  in  the  Bull 
in  which  he  raised  Peter  Celestine  to  the  honors  of  the 
altar.  Of  him  he  says :  "  A  man  of  stupendous  simplicity, 
"  and  unskilled  in  matters  concerning  the  administration 
"  of  the  universal  Church  ( for  from  his  boyhood  to  old  age 
"  he  had  not  applied  himself  to  worldly  affairs,  but  only 
"to  those  divine),  prudently  viewing  himself  with  the 
"  closest  attention,  he  freely  and  entirely  resigned  the 
"  honors  and  burden  of  the  Papacy,  in  order  that  no  evil 
"  would  be  occasioned  to  the  Universal  Church  by  his  gov- 
"  ernment  of  it ;  and  because  being  freed  from  the  disturb- 
"  ing  cares  of  Martha,  he  could  with  Mary  stand  at  the 
"  feet  of  Jesus  in  the  peace  and  happiness  of  contempla- 
"  tion." 73 

The  ten  days  having  elapsed  from  the  abdication  of 
Celestine,  the  cardinals,  according  to  the  approved  Consti- 
tution of  Pope  Gregory  X,  met  in  conclave.  In  all  there 
were  twenty-two.  Eight  were  French,  Hugh  Billom, 
Bishop  of  Ostia ;  Bernard  de  Got ;  Simon  of  Beaulieu ;  John 
Lemoine;  William  Ferrier;  Nicholas  Nonancourt,  Robert, 
formerly  abbot  of  Citeaux;  and  Simon,  who  had  been  a 
monk  of  Cluny.  All  these  with  the  exception  of  Hugh, 
were  created  by  Celestine,  and  hence  desired  by  Charles  of 
Naples.  Thomas  of  Teramo,  and  Peter  of  Aquila  were 
Celestine  monks;  Landolf  Brancaccio  and  William  Longo, 
State  Chancellor  of  the  King,  and  Benedict  Gaetani, 
Junior,  were  also  creatures  of  Charles.  Of  these  if  we  ex- 
cept Gaetani,  who  by  reason  of  blood  relationship,  would 

71  Life  of  the  hermit.     Book  2,  chap.  18,  page  266,  V.  1.    Basilea  edition, 
by  Sebastian  Henripetri  1520. 
73  Bull  of  Canonization  of  St.  Peter  Celestine. 


7(}  HISTORY   OF.   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

naturally  favor  the  election  of  his  uncle,  certainly  not  one 
of  the  others  would  care  to  see  him  chosen.  The  fact  of  the 
Saint  calling  on  Gaetani  for  counsel,  and  the  weight  which 
his  opinion  and  advice  must  have  had  on  his  mind  on  ac- 
count of  his  reputation  for  learning,  should  have  closed 
the  minds  of  those  devoted  to  Celestine  against  every 
thought  of  creating  Benedict  Pope.  On  the  contrary  the 
other  cardinals,  namely,  Gerard  of  Parma;  John  Boccam- 
ozzo;  Matthew  of  Acquasparta  in  Umbria;  Peter  Pere- 
grosso  of  Milan;  Matthew  Kosso  Orsini;  James  Colonna; 
Napoleon  Orsini;  Peter  Colonna,  all  Italians  and  five  of 
them  Komans,  deplored  so  exceedingly  such  a  large  num- 
ber of  Frenchmen  admitted  to  their  College  and  the  dan- 
gerous removal  of  the  Papal  See  to  Naples,  that  they  would 
certainly  favor  the  election  as  Pontiff  of  one  of  their  col- 
leagues, who  would  be  at  least  an  Italian,  and  who  would 
have  the  courage  to  tear  himself  away  from  the  influence 
of  Charles  the  Lame,  and  straightway  bring  back  the  court 
to  Home. 

Charles  was  not  a  cardinal,  but  under  Celestine  he  had 
cardinals  created,  and  for  that  reason  although  he  did 
not  have  a  vote  in  the  election  of  the  pontiff,  he  could  have, 
and  did  have  in  fact,  the  desire  of  the  choice  of  a  person 
who  would  favor  his  interests.  The  kings  of  Prance  have 
shown  later  how  agreeable  it  was  to  have  in  their  house 
(we  refer  to  the  captivity  of  Avignon)  the  Roman  Pontiff; 
but  Charles  the  Lame  had  already  experienced  and  for 
that  reason  let  not  the  reader  ask  what  cardinal  he  wished 
to  see  elected.  Of  course  it  would  be  a  Frenchman.  An 
Italian  he  would  not  have,  much  less  a  Roman.  For  be- 
sides being  pained  by  the  loss  of  liberty  and  dignity  which 
was  inflicted  on  the  Papal  See  by  that  exile  in  a  prince's 
house,  their  love  of  country  was  wounded  by  being  de- 
prived of  that  honor.  Moreover  more  in  those  times  to 
have  a  Pope  of  a  vigorous  disposition  was  not  the  most 
ardent  desire  of  any  crowned  head.  Hence  Stephaneschi, 
who  was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Papal  Curia,  and  an 
eye-witness  of  events,  informs  us  that  Charles  nourished  a 
secret  hope,  which  by  the  mercy  of  God  remained  in  em- 
bryo. To  whom  the  royal  suffrage  was  given,  we  know  not ; 
and  to  surmise  would  be  to  give  full  play  to  the  imagination. 

With  these  feelings  the  twenty-two  cardinals  shut  them- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  77 

selves  up  in  conclave  in  the  royal  castle,  being  menaced  in 
their  liberty,  inasmuchas  Charles  had  even  intruded  him- 
self there.74  Each  one  had  his  own  views,  but  all  were 
dominated  by  a  force  that  emanated  from  the  conditions 
in  which  the  Church  found  itself  after  the  brief  rule  of 
Celestine,  and  which  was  impelling  them  to  disregard  their 
own  interests,  for  the  safety  and  relief  of  the  Holy  Church 
of  God.  A  mysterious  force  which  not  all  would  recog- 
nize in  assemblies  for  the  election  of  a  Supreme  Pontiff; 
because  wholly  absorbed  in  the  human  weaknesses  which 
can  manifest  themselves  in  that  sort  of  assemblies,  they 
will  not  consider  that  in  the  midst  of  so  much  humanity 
the  will  and  power  of  God  may  rule.  Party  spirit  and 
every  other  imperfection  also  can  be  discovered  in  these 
meetings,  the  cardinals  not  ceasing  to  be  human,  even  if 
they  are  in  conclave ;  but  the  final  result  is  wholly  the  work 
of  God  who  uses  for  a  good  purpose  this  human  nature  of 
ours,  miserable  though  it  may  ever  be.  Therefore  in  case 
the  minds  of  the  electors  had  become  dissipated  by  private 
desires,  one  fact  would  unite  them  forthwith,  namely,  the 
renunciation  of  Celestine,  for  which  it  was  necessary  to 
elect  as  a  Pope  a  man  able  to  resist  the  possibility  of  a 
threatened  schism,  and  firmly  to  set  out  at  once  for  that 
city  which  alone  is  the  seat  of  the  Papal  power.  Nay, 
judging  from  the  very  short  time  they  had  been  in  conclave, 
it  can  be  truly  said,  that  already  before  entering  they 
had  fixed  their  minds  on  Gaetani.  Their  assembling  served 
for  no  other  purpose  but  to  make  known  their  minds;  for 
scarcely  had  a  day  of  the  conclave  been  passed,  the  holy 
sacrifice  having  been  offered,  and  the  usual  prayers  were 
said,  when  by  an  overwhelming  vote  Benedict  Gaetani, 
then  Cardinal  priest  of  the  title  of  Sts.  Sylvester  and  Mar- 
tin, was  elected  Pope.75  Reading  the  account  of  John  Vil- 
lani,76  in  which  he  states  that  Gaetani  made  use  of  bare- 

"Ptol.  Luc.  Hist.  Ecc.,  c.  34.  "Jaa.  St.  Georg.  The  election  of  Boni- 
face VIII  B.  I. 

"Villani  S.  R.  I.  T.  13,  page  347.  Book  8,  c.  6.  "In  the  year  1294, 
Cardinal  Benedict  Gaetani,  having  by  his  address  and  sagacity  induced 
Celestine  to  resign  the  Papacy,  as  we  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  followed  up  his  undertaking  and  worked  on  the  minds  of  the 
cardinals,  and  the  courier  of  King  Charles,  who  held  the  friendship  of 
many  cardinals,  especially  the  twelve  created  by  Celestine.  Being  in  the 
country  of  Charles  he  went  to  him  one  night  incognito  with  a  small  retinue 


78  HISTORY   OF    POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

faced  artifices  to  enlist  King  Charles  in  his  favor,  and  that 
he  did  obtain  his  assistance  in  his  endeavors  to  gain  pos- 
session of  the  much-desired  Keys,  the  reader  will  wonder 
at  the  source  and  truth  of  our  account.  But,  thank  God, 
we  are  living  to-day  in  times  in  which  our  minds,  being 
freed  from  the  preponderant  influence  of  the  opinions  of 
others,  advance  more  freely  in  the  search  for  truth  and 
possess  innumerable  means  of  arriving  at  it.  Very  many 
writers,  following  the  opinions  of  Villani  and  Dante,  and 
without  any  further  inquiry  have  charged  Gaetani  with 
the  foul  crime  of  simony. 

Villana  arrived  in  Rome  during  the  year  of  the  Jubilee, 
that  is  six  years  after  the  election  of  Boniface,  and  in  that 
year  he  wrote  his  history.  He  had  not  witnessed  the  resig- 
nation of  Celestine  and  the  election  of  Boniface.  So  he 
gathered  his  information  of  the  events  from  hearsay,  as  it 
passed  from  mouth  to  mouth.  Now  we  who  live  in  a  more 
civilized  age  know  by  experience,  how  and  to  what  extent 
great  events  still  recent,  and  not  matured  for  history,  may 
become  distorted  in  character  and  in  circumstances,  es- 
pecially if  human  passions  be  aroused  by  them.  Hence 
imagine  how  many  opinions  existed  disputing  these  two 
facts,  the  renunciation  of  Celestine  and  the  election  of 
Boniface,  in  that  obscure  XIHth  century,  in  which  owing 
to  the  want  of  printing  and  the  lack  of  intercourse  among 
people,  they  were  permitted  to  intrude  themselves  with  a 
tyranny  and  an  arrogance  which  proceeded  from  the  fac- 
tional fights  of  families  and  kings. 

When  Villani  was  stopping  at  Rome,  the  anger  of  the 
Colonnas  was  at  fever  heat,  and  it  was  precisely  this  family 
that  spread  the  famous  libel  relative  to  the  election  of 
Boniface,  which  it  said  was  invalid  because  of  the  invalid- 
ity of  the  abdication  of  Celestine.  Anyone  who  knows 

and  said  to  him :  "  King  Charles  thy  Pope  Celestine  was  willing  and 
able  to  serve  thee,  only  he  knew  not  how;  as  for  me  if  you  induce  your 
friends  the  cardinals  to  elect  me  Pope,  I  shall  know,  and  shall  be  willing, 
and  shall  be  able  to  set  before  thee  all  the  power  of  the  Church."  Then 
the  King  trusting  him  promised  it;  he  ordered  his  twelve  cardinals  to 
give  him  their  rote,  Matthew  Rosso  and  James  Colonna,  who  were  the 
leaders  of  seven  Cardinals  perceived  what  was  transpiring,  and  forthwith 
gave  him  their  rotes,  Matthew  being  the  first  to  vote  for  him.  In  this 
manner  he  was  elected  Pope  in  the  city  of  Naples  on  the  vigil  of  Christ- 
inas in  the  same  year. " 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  79 

what  was  the  temper  of  the  Konian  people  at  that  time, 
and  especially  under  a  Pope  vigorous  and  firm  as  Boni- 
face was,  will  readily  understand  how  greedy  it  would  be 
to  seize  and  propagate  forthwith  false  accounts. 

All  admit  that  Gaetani  had  a  soul  so  noble  and  lofty, 
that  it  went,  so  to  speak,  beyond  the  limits  of  virtue,  and 
almost  degenerated  into  pride;  that  in  the  conclave  of 
Perugia  he  made  Charles  feel  it  severely,  and  that  after- 
wards these  two  personages  were  not  in  accord  at  all  re- 
garding the  renunciation  of  Celestine,  because  Gaetani 
aided  him  to  relinquish  the  Apostolic  See,  while  on  the  con- 
trary Charles  tried  to  make  him  retain  it.  No  one  who  has 
the  least  bit  of  sense  can  believe  that  at  the  time  of  the 
aforesaid  procession  arranged  by  Charles,  according  to 
Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  at  a  time  when  the  King  and  Gaetani 
were  clashing  most  violently,  the  one  could  promise  the 
tiara  and  the  other  could  bow  the  head  before  the  Prince 
and  promise  favors.  Nor  was  Charles  such  a  simpleton  as 
to  prefer  the  promises  of  Gaetani  to  the  profitable  and 
actual  simplicity  of  Celestine;  nor  so  foolish  as  to  treat 
with  Gaetani  of  his  promotion  to  the  Papacy,  and  at  the 
same  time  impede  the  departure  of  Celestine  from  it.  If 
therefore  the  disputed  renunciation  and  during  the  time 
the  dispute  was  going  on,  Gaetani  could  not  have  come  to 
the  shameful  agreements  with  the  King,  when  shall  we 
find  them  conferring  and  trafficking  regarding  the  place 
belonging  to  the  Son  of  God?  Is  it  perhaps  when  the  Pope 
was  seen  changed  into  a  poor  hermit,  and  Charles  was 
foiled  in  his  efforts?  We  grant  that  the  reason  of  time 
may  warrant  such  an  assumption,  but  not  the  character  of 
the  persons.  For  although  ten  days  may  have  elapsed 
from  the  resignation  of  Celestine  to  the  holding  of  the 
conclave,  a  most  opportune  time  for  the  nightly  colloquies 
of  Gaetani  with  King  Charles,  we  cannot  imagine  how 
these  two  persons,  angry  and  full  of  threats  as  they  were, 
could  come  to  such  friendly  conferences  so  suddenly.  We 
know  that  the  ambition  of  both  could  have  calmed  on  a 
sudden  their  angry  minds,  for  their  mutual  advantage ;  but 
this  shows  us  precisely  the  impossibility  of  the  dishonest 
agreement,  since  the  advantages  were  not  equal  in  the  eyes 
of  Charles  and  Gaetani. 

According  to  the  account  of  Villani,  we  are  to  believe 


80  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

that  Gaetani  by  night  accosted  Charles,  and  promised  to 
favor  him  more  than  Celestine  had  done,  if  he  would  aid 
him  to  ascend  the  vacant  chair,  and  that  Charles  with  a 
cheerful  mind  granted  his  request.  Charles  promised  a 
certain  and  immediate  benefit,  and  Gaetani  a  future  and 
uncertain  favor.  Very  unequal  promises.  And  then  what 
was  the  favor?  The  Dominican  friar,  Alphonsus  Ciac- 
conius77  affirms,  though  Villani  says  nothing  of  it,  that 
the  favor  was  the  recovery  of  Sicily.  But  the  recovery  of 
Sicily  would  not  have  been  an  extraordinary  benefit.  All 
his  predecessors  in  the  Papacy  had  worked  strenuously  to 
wrest  it  from  the  King  of  Aragon,  and  place  it  under  the 
authority  of  Charles,  as  they  demanded  the  rights  of  the 
Church  be  identified  with  those  of  the  house  of  Anjou ;  and 
so  to  the  attainment  of  this  the  efforts  of  Gaetani  would 
be  used,  as  it  happened,  even  without  promising  it  to 
Charles.  Charles  was  promising  much,  and  Gaetani  little 
or  nothing.  Are  we  then  to  believe  that  this  Gaetani,  the 
most  renowned  among  the  cardinals  for  judgment  and 
learning,  the  lord  of  the  Papal  Court,  who  did  not  flinch 
before  the  report  which,  thanks  to  the  infamous  artifices 
of  the  Colonnas  and  the  French,  accused  him  of  intruding 
himself  into  the  Papacy ;  who  did  not  flinch  in  the  presence 
of  that  terrible  and  brutal  Philip  the  Fair;  who  did  not 
flinch  at  Anagni  before  the  daggers  of  Sciarra  Colonna, 
and  that  French  ruffian  Nogaret,  are  we  to  believe,  we 
repeat,  that  he  flinched  in  presence  of  Charles  the  Lame, 
over  whom  he  had  lately  triumphed  by  the  renunciation  of 
Celestine? 

And  even  supposing  that  the  excessive  ambition  of 
Gaetani  would  at  this  point  have  unnerved  his  courage, 
who  will  believe  that  Charles  most  cunning  that  he  was, 
would  have  relied  on  the  promises  of  Gaetani  who  also 
was  considered  to  be  a  most  crafty  man?  Who  will  be- 
lieve that  Charles  with  a  college  of  French  Cardinals  most 
docile  to  him  by  reason  of  a  common  fatherland,  wishing 
to  have  a  Pope  altogether  according  to  his  liking,  would 
have  leaned  towards  Gaetani,  Roman  to  the  core,  the  bit- 
terness of  whose  mind  he  had  already  tasted?  Shall  we 
say  that  perhaps  the  reputation  for  judgment  and  skill  in 
administration  enamored  Charles  of  Gaetani,  and  satisfied 

"Vitae  Pontif.  Rom. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  gl 

him  with  the  certainty  of  favors  greater  than  those  which 
resulted  from  the  incapacity  of  Celestine?  But  to  such  a 
conclusion  Charles  could  not  come,  for  he  would  know,  that 
if  ambition  rendered  Gaetani  a  friend  and  a  promiser  of 
favors,  this  ambition  being  satisfied,  he  would  return  to 
his  first  disposition,  and  even  more  severe  and  more  inex- 
orable, as  it  were,  through  shame  for  having  prostituted 
his  magnanimity;  and  then  his  judgment  and  skill  in  the 
management  of  affairs  would  become  very  sharp  weapons 
with  which  to  wound  the  King. 

We  would  not  have  entered  into  this  discussion  if  all  the 
writers,  eye-witnesses  of  the  events,  or  at  least  some  of 
them  had  mentioned  the  evil  artifices  used  by  Gaetani  to 
bcome  Pope;  but  finding  the  recital  in  only. later  writers 
like  Villani,  or  rabid  ones  like  Dante,  we  have  desired  to 
measure  these  words  with  them  less  out  of  love  for  Boni- 
face VIII  than  for  the  love  of  truth.  In  fact  Ptolemy  of 
Lucca  who  was  in  Naples  when  the  election  of  Gaetani 
took  place  says  absolutely  nothing  of  simoniacal  prac- 
tices.78 James  Stephaneschi,  Cardinal  of  the  title  of  St. 
George  in  Velabro,  who  not  only  resided  in  Naples  in  those 
times,  but  also  was  a  member  of  the  Papal  Curia,  having 
been  created  by  Celestine  a  Canon  of  St.  Peter's,  and  Audi- 
tor of  the  Rota,79  is  altogether  silent  on  the  compacts  with 
Charles.  But  if  we  believe  that  he,  out  of  love  for  Gaetani, 
by  whom  afterwards  he  was  created  Cardinal,  had  kept 
silent  concerning  his  simony,  we  must  admit,  that  if  this 
was  so,  he  ought  not  to  have  mentioned  the  deception  of 
Charles,  but  have  passed  over  in  silence  this  account  as 
likewise  the  story  of  the  nocturnal  conference  related  by 
Villani.  But  on  the  contrary  Stephaneschi  without  any 
artifice  of  words,  bluntly  relates,  that  Gaetani  being  elected 
Pope,  Charles  saw  his  hopes  perish,  thanks  be  to  God ;  and 

"  Post  cessionem  autem  ad  modicum  tempus  juxta  formam  decreti  ad 
electionem  alterius  procedunt,  praesente  Rege  Carolo  Neapoli,  et  in  vigilia 
Nativitatis  Dominicae  in  Dominum  Benedictum  Gaytani  vota  sua  dirigunt, 
et  in  Summum  Pontificem  assument,  et  Bonifacius  VIII  vocatus  est." 
Eccl.  History,  e.  34  .  .  .  "  Dictus  Caelestinus  Papatui  cedit,  et  sua 
resignatio  a  Cardinalibus  acceptatur.  Tune  ad  electionem  procedunt,  et 
Dominum  Benedictum  eligunt,  Vocatusque  est  Bonifacius  octavus,  et  hoc 
totum  Xeapoli  est  factum,  et  presente  Rege." — Idem  Annales  year  1294, 
— S.  R.  I.  Tom.  XI,  pages  1300,  1301. 

"See  Cardclla,  History  of  the  Cardinals,  T,  2. 


go  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

,adds  a  warning  that  no  one  should  violate  the  liberty  of 
Mother  Church  in  the  selection  of  her  spouse;  an  evident 
proof  that  Charles  was  present  to  turn  away  the  votes  from 
Gaetani.80  Therefore  far  from  their  having  come  to  any 
compact  between  them,  the  Pope  elect  and  the  King  were 
at  war  with  each  other,  and  the  latter  would  most  rather 
have  preferred  as  Pope,  any  other  Cardinal  than  Gaetani. 
So  by  combining  the  testimony  of  contemporaries  with  the 
arguments  of  criticism  founded  on  prior  facts,  on  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time,  and  on  the  character  of  the  per- 
sons, we  know  not  what  foundation  of  truth  there  remains 
to  the  account  of  Villani  and  the  poetic  fantasies  of  Dante. 
Finally  the  ultimate  confirmation  of  our  statement  is  that 
in  the  famous  libel  composed  by  the  furious  Colonnas,  with 
which  they  strove  to  show  the  invalid  election  of  Gaetani, 
we  do  not  find  that  the  sin  of  simony,  but  that  the  invalid 
abdication  of  Celestine  laid  the  foundation  of  his  intrusion 
into  the  Papacy.  The  Colonnas  at  that  time  knew  what 
they  were  doing;  and  as  members  of  the  conclave,  they  were 
not  ignorant,  if  there  were  such,  of  the  simonical  practices 
of  Gaetani.  The  sin  of  simony  alone  was  sufficient  to  wrest 
from  the  hands  of  Boniface  the  basely  bought  Keys  of  St. 
Peter.81 

80  James,  Cardinal  of  St.  George.     The  coronation  of  Boniface,  Book  I, 
c.  1,  2. 

"...   Nam  plurima  nomina  Fratrum 
In  te  conveniunt   (alii  licet  altera  fassi) 
O  Cardo  Benedicte  sacer,  Levitaque  quondam, 
Eligeris:  nam  digna  quidem  concordia  vocum 

Accessit  

Caroli  spes  cepta  precando 

Defecit,  miserante  Deo.     Sunt  ista  relatu 
Digna,  quod  et  Patri,  necnon  sibi  praestita  noscens 
Munera  ab  Ecclesia,  vultus  avertit  et  ora. 
Xec  Matrem  violare  licet,  quin  libera  possit 
Desponsare  viro.     Caveant  quicumque  sinistris 
Frandibus  injectant  oculos,  ac  ipsa  Potentum 
Formide!  subjecta  manus:  sic  gloria  praestat." 

81  We  have  found  in  the  Vatican  Library  a  MS.  of  the  Urbinate  signed 
no.   1275,  the  title  of  which   is:      "The   life   customs   and   events   in   the 
Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII."    The  anonymous  author  says  in  the  preface: 
"  The  most  essential  part  in  the  life  of   Boniface  will  be   that  which  I 
have  drawn  from  many  notices,  and  from  an  old  book  of  the  years  899, 
1323  and   1294."     The  last  years   very  strongly   support  our   statement. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  §3 

Now  to  return  to  our  narrative.  As  soon  as  Gaetani 
realized  that  he  was  elected  Pope,  he  felt  his  soul  oppressed 
by  the  greatness  of  the  office,  and  he  could  not  refrain  from 
weeping.  Having  grown  old  in  the  Roman  Court  he  knew 
what  a  Supreme  Pontiff  should  be;  he  understood  the 
times,  and  he  was  not  ignorant  how  cruelly  care  would 
gnaw  under  the  purple.  He  accepted  the  burden  which 
Heaven  imposed  on  him,  and  took  the  name  of  Boniface, 
the  eighth  Pope  to  bear  that  name.  He  seemed  to  have  a 
presentiment  of  a  stormy  future,  and  wishing  God  to  wit- 
ness the  dispositions  of  his  heart  that  He  might  come  to 
his  aid,  he  took,  as  was  the  custom  of  Pontiffs,  as  a  motto 
for  his  seal  these  words  of  the  Psalm :  "  Deus  in  adjuorium 
meum  intende  " — "  Incline  unto  my  aid,  O  God !  "  82 

Being  raised  to  the  highest  place,  the  Church  seemed  to 
him  torn  and  shattered  by  the  weak  administration  of 
Celestine,  or  rather  by  the  frauds  of  those,  who  taking  ad- 
vantage of  his  ignorance  and  inexperience,  had  made  the 
holy  Hermit  open  his  heart  to  grant  all  manner  of  conces- 
sions, and  had  wantonly  gathered  the  fruits  of  them.  In  a 
discourse  delivered  to  the  cardinals,  Boniface  referred  to 
the  evils  brought  upon  the  Church,  and  to  repair  them  he 
revoked  all  the  favors  and  concessions  which  had  been 
granted  by  his  predecessor,  "  not  in  the  fullness  of  his 
power,  but  in  the  fullness  of  his  simplicity,"  as  James  of 
Voragine  remarks.83  This  measure  seemed  to  Giordano  84 

The  author  narrating  the  exaltation  of  Boniface  to  the  Papacy,  far  from 
even  hinting  that  he  owed  the  place  to  the  work  and  favor  of  Charles, 
clearly  says  that  Charles  did  not  want  him  as  Pope,  since  "  the  King  of 
Naples,  knowing  him  to  be  a  covetous,  avaricious,  venomous  man  and  a 
traitor,  (although  he  was  learned  and  fit  to  manage  the  Papacy),  never 
wished  to  have  him  nominated " — The  writer  throws  off  all  restraint  in 
maligning  Boniface. 

82  Ciacconius.     Lives  of  the  Popes.     M  Chronicles,  Genu.  S.  R.  I.  T.  IX. 

"Giordanus  Vatican  M.  S.  1960 — "  Sed  ex  hoc  factus  est  fastosus  et 
arrogans,  omnium  comtemptivus :  unde  factus  Pontifex  praedecessorum 
suorum  Nicholai  et  Caelestini  gratias  revocavit."  Raynaldus,  year  1294, 
no.  23.  Stephaneschi  does  not  mention  Nicholas;  there  was  no  reason 
to  revoke  his  concessions. 

84 "  Ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam.  Caelestinus  Papa  V.  seductus  in- 
stantia  et  ambitione  plurimorum,  concessit  varia  minus  digna  et  inor- 
dinata  et  insolita.  Quapropter  ipse  recognoscens  suam  insufficientiam 
et  periculam  pati  ex  hoc  universam  Ecclesiam,  renuntiavit  Papaptui ;  et 
humiliter  postulavit,  et  voluit,  ut  quae  per  ipsum  improvida  facta  fuerunt, 


84  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

to  be  the  effect  of  a  bold  and  contemptuous  mind ;  but  with 
regard  to  those  forged  Bulls,  which  were  Papal  only  in 
name,  as  Celestine  himself  ignored  them,  we  do  not  know 
why  it  did  not  spring  from  a  mind  solicitous  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Church,  rather  than  from  the  low  voice  of  a 
childish  pride. — Most  certainly  this  was  the  first  act  which 
revealed  the  strong  temper  of  mind  of  the  new  Pope.85 

On  his  first  ascending  the  Papal  Chair  to  scatter  dis- 
contentment amongst  such  a  great  number  who  were  en- 
joying the  favors  of  Celestine,  and  of  which  they  saw  them- 
selves deprived  at  one  stroke,  was  a  striking  proof  of  the 
firm  determination  of  Boniface  to  observe  justice  in  spite 
of  every  obstacle.  Those  good  Celestine  monks,  whom  the 
people  revered  as  saints,  lamented  the  resignation  of  their 
founder;  that  crowd  of  wicked  agents  of  the  Curia  be- 
wailed the  good  times  of  Celestine.  To  these  malcontents 
were  added  all  who  were  deprived  suddenly  of  their  bene- 
fices, and  other  favors  so  wickedly  acquired,  and  all  these 
joined  sides  to  increase  the  complaints  and  hatred  for  Boni- 
face. Hence  the  reader  may  see  that  on  the  first  appear- 
ance of  Boniface  to  the  world  as  Supreme  Pontiff,  he  did 
not  even  enjoy  that  indulgence  of  a  general  judgment 
which  is  wont  to  be  accorded  princes  of  a  new  regime. 
But  hatred  and  revenge  furiously  gathering  about  him, 
disturbed  the  beginnings  of  his  Pontificate,  and  engross- 
ing minds,  rendered  them  slow  to  believe  the  good  that  he 
did,  and  over  credulous  of  the  evil. 

Hardly  having  been  proclaimed  Pope,  Boniface,  though 
advanced  in  years  and  in  spite  of  the  vigors  of  winter,  did 
not  endure  any  longer  his  separation  from  the  Roman  See. 
He  knew  from  experience  what  a  prolific  source  of  calami- 
ties the  exile  of  a  Pope  would  be  to  the  Church,  and  with 
what  chains  that  pious  imprisonment  in  the  palaces  of  lay- 
men would  bind  his  will.  So  brooking  no  delays,  he  de- 
parted from  Naples,  though  before  leaving  he  exhorted  the 
Neapolitans  to  remain  faithful,  and  Charles  to  exercise  a 
benign  rule  over  his  people,  wearied  and  worn  out  by  wars. 

futurus  ejus  successor  provide  revocaret.  Et  postquam  fuimus  ad  apicem 
Apostolatus  assumpti,  nobis,  dum  adhuc  essemus  Neapoli,  preces  fudit, 
revocare  quae  ipse  fecerat  curaremus."  Register  of  Boniface  M.  S.  Vatican. 
an.  1.  n.  75.  M  James  Card,  of  St.  George.  The  coronation  of  Boniface 
VIII,  Book  1,  c.  1. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  §5 

Arrived  in  Capua,  he  took  the  way  to  St.  Germano,  and 
went  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino, 
which  perhaps  was  still  in  disorder  on  account  of  the  forced 
reforms  of  the  Celestines;  and  then  following  the  way  to 
Ceprano  he  descended  into  the  fertile  valley  of  Anagni. 
All  the  city,  which  was  his  birth-place,  out  of  reverence 
for  him  as  Pontiff,  and  out  of  domestic  love,  turned  out  to 
meet  him.  Splendid  honors  were  accorded  him  by  com- 
panies of  noble  knights,  and  many  people  bearing  in  their 
hands  palm-branches,  and  singing  and  dancing  as  on  a 
feast  day.  Among  those  who  came  to  meet  him  there  was 
a  large  number  of  Roman  Patricians  who  had  been  depu- 
ted to  offer  to  him  the  dignity  of  Senator.  This  offer  so 
greatly  increased  the  desire  for  Rome,  that  he  could  not 
remain  in  domestic  joys  and  so  he  continued  on  his  way. 
Stephaneschi  remarks,  that  neither  the  rigors  of  winter, 
nor  the  fatigues  of  the  journey  caused  him  any  inconveni- 
ence so  happy  was  his  soul  on  recovering  liberty.86  Finally 
he  appeared  before  the  eternal  city,  which  lies  immense 
and  silent  in  a  desert  country.  About  three  years  had 
passed  since  the  city  had  been  deprived  of  the  person  of  the 
Pontiff ;  and  the  deprivation  was  a  loss  of  that  soul  which 
gave  it  life,  since  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  Caesars  had  left 
it  like  a  dead  body  buried  under  the  ruins  of  its  greatness. 
So  the  approach  of  Boniface  filled  all  Rome  with  incredible 
rejoicing;  a  splendid  welcome  was  accorded  him  by  the 
military  and  the  clergy,  who  went  out  to  meet  him  with 
every  sort  of  pompous  offices.  Boniface  on  first  arriving 
repaired  to  the  Lateran  Basilica  to  pray,  and  afterwards 
he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  Vatican  palace.87  Thus  have 
we  conducted  this  Pontiff  to  Rome,  clearing  the  way  of  the 
ugly  sin  of  simony,  leaving  behind  his  aforesaid  enemies 
astonished  by  his  wonderful  elevation  to  the  Papal  throne, 
but  ready  to  break  forth,  and  combine  with  subsequent  ene- 
mies, powerless  to  suppress  the  truth,  but  yet  too  power- 
ful by  reason  of  the  times  to  disturb  history,  its  august 
agent. 

Wishing  to  speak  somewhat  in  detail  of  the  ceremonies 
and  vestments  used  by  the  Popes  at  their  solemn  corona- 
tion in  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  it  is  necessary  that  we 

88  Nee  labor  aut  algor  fessus  sumptusve  gravare :  Tanta  quies  animis, 
libertas  reddita  cum  sit."  "James  Cardinal  of  St.  George.  Ib. 


gg  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

should  anticipate  by  an  observation,  the  uneasiness  and 
scandal  which  may  arise  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  from 
seeing  the  successor  of  the  Fisherman  crowned  better  than 
emperor,  all  glittering  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and 
after  the  manner  of  a  king.  In  this  observation  we  would 
not  spend  the  time,  if  we  did  not  know  how  much  the  minds 
of  some  may  be  disturbed  by  this  magnificence  and  splen- 
dor of  ceremonies  of  the  Vicar  of  Him  who  had  not  whereon 
to  lay  His  head. 

When  Christ  came  on  earth  to  confirm  the  law  of  nature 
in  the  heart  of  men,  and  to  establish  the  more  perfect  law 
of  the  Gospel,  the  gates  of  hell  commenced  against  the 
Church  a  war,  which  will  last  as  long  as  the  world,  and 
will  conduce  to  nothing  but  triumphs  for  the  Church.  The 
Emperors  of  Rome  were  its  ministers  and  satellites  and  in 
their  cruel  skill  many  were  the  torments  and  the  tortures 
they  inflicted  in  order  to  eradicate  and  destroy  the  Church 
of  Christ.  But  persecuted  and  not  conquered,  in  the  dark 
shades  of  the  Catacombs  and  in  the  deserts,  the  Church  fed 
the  faithful  with  the  bread  of  the  word  of  God,  and 
pointed  out  the  way  to  Heaven  by  the  poverty  even  of  her 
exterior  worship.  And  this  sufficed  for  men  just  out  of  the 
school  of  the  Apostles,  and  little  in  need  of  sensible  aid  to 
elevate  the  spirit.  Hence  those  poor  unadorned  robes 
which  Linus,  Cletus,  and  Soter  wore,  were  sufficient  for 
the  Pontifical  dignity,  because  the  hour  had  not  as  yet 
come,  in  which  the  Church  strengthened  by  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs,  was  to  change  the  whole  aspect  of  civil  so- 
ciety, and  direct  it  not  only  to  its  last  end,  Heaven,  but 
also  to  that  of  human  prosperity  by  the  preservation  of 
order.  Facts  have  proved  that  such  has  been  and  ought  to 
be  the  double  office  of  the  Church.  When  the  anger  of  the 
Caesars  had  been  appeased,  and  the  valor  of  the  first  Chris- 
tians had  grown  weak,  the  Church  had  to  add  to  the  forms 
of  external  worship,  because  it  had  become  urgent  upon 
her  to  speak  to  and  convince  the  senses,  which  began  little 
by  little  to  prevail  over  the  spirit.  Churches  arose,  and 
were  enriched  for  the  nourishment  of  religion;  and  the 
Church  here  below  in  the  outward  spendor  of  her  forms, 
became  an  image  of  that  Church  triumphant  under  whose 
feet  are  silent  the  storms  of  this  world.  That  is  why  the 
rough  robes  of  the  first  Pontiffs  were  transformed  into 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  gj 

others  of  a  silken  texture,  which  did  not  adorn  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  Vicar  of  the  Son  of  Man,  but  those  of  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  the  conqueror  of  death. 

Religion  had  been  up  to  that  time  cloistered  in  the  sanc- 
tuary, as  it  were,  in  order  to  complete  the  work  of  human 
civilization  by  heavenly  discourses,  but  now  she  issued 
forth  as  a  queen  to  the  civil  conquest,  dragging  after  her, 
conquered  and  bound,  anarchy  and  tyranny,  and  imprint- 
ing on  the  foreheads  of  the  successors  of  Augustus  the  sign 
of  the  cross.  So  when  the  Church  placed  herself  at  the 
head  of  the  people  bearing  in  hand  the  standard  of  the 
cross,  all  the  princes  and  emperors  she  met  on  the  way,  far 
from  opposing  her  glorious  march  to  true  civilization, 
amazed  but  reverent  bent  their  knee,  and  together  with  the 
people  they  formed  but  one  family,  as  one  was  the  stand- 
ard, which  sanctified  every  command  and  suggestion. 
This  is  the  reason  why  the  Popes  saw  themselves  instantly 
borne  from  the  depths  of  the  Catacombs  to  the  height  of  a 
throne,  which  has  for  its  footstool  the  thrones  of  the  em- 
perors. And  this  is  the  reason  why  religion  having  be- 
come the  mistress  of  the  world  and  resplendent  by  the  out- 
ward forms  of  worship,  her  Popes  should  wear  a  crown,  be 
clothed  in  purple,  and  adorn  the  person  with  precious 
stones.  And  by  reason  of  these  brilliant  insignia  of  uni- 
versal authority,  the  people  were  accustomed  to  revere  the 
Pope  not  only  as  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  but  also  as  the  pre- 
server and  champion  of  civil  justice.  And  from  that  time 
the  voice  of  the  Pontiff  was  so  powerful  as  to  make  itself 
heard  to  the  confines  of  the  world  those  words  of  the  Royal 
Psalmist  says :  "  Be  ye  wise,  ye  judges  of  the  earth" 

It  was  a  Sunday,  the  fifth  of  January.  At  the  break  of 
day  Boniface  with  all  the  College  of  Cardinals,  bishops 
and  all  the  other  clergy,  repaired  to  the  Vatican  Basilica 
for  the  solemn  ceremony  of  the  Papal  consecration  and 
coronation.  As  soon  as  he  arrived  in  the  Basilica,  taking 
off  the  robes  that  he  wore,  he  put  on  the  white  alb,  binding 
it  at  the  waist  with  a  cincture;  then  a  purple  stole,  and  a 
dalmatic  with  sleeves,  such  as  is  worn  by  a  deacon,  and  a 
mantle,  or  long  trailing  cope,  which  two  ministers  held  up 
at  the  sides,  and  which  was  retained  in  place  on  the  breast 
by  a  gold  clasp,  in  the  centre  of  which  glistened  a  beautiful 
carbuncle  surrounded  by  precious  stones.  On  his  head 


gg  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

was  placed  a  mitre  with  two  points,  signifying  the  old  and 
the  new  law,  covered  with  gems,  which  had  two  pendants 
falling  on  the  shoulders.  He  covered  his  hands  with  gloves 
or  chirothecas,  and  on  his  finger  he  wore  a  ring  of  price- 
less value.  When  the  Pontiff  was  surrounded  by  the  cardi- 
nals and  the  bishops,  all  vested  in  white,  the  archdeacon 
organized  the  procession  that  conducted  the  Pontiff  to  the 
altar  of  St.  Peter ;  as  he  proceeded  slowly,  he  held  his  hand 
raised  imparting  continuously  his  blessing  to  the  people. 
Having  arrived  at  the  choir  three  cardinal  priests  ap- 
proached to  revest  him  with  the  chasuble,  and  kissed  his 
breast  with  great  reverence,  he  himself  receiving  them 
with  that  sign  of  peace.  Afterwards  he  seated  himself  on 
a  faldstool,  placed  between  the  altar  and  the  pontifical 
throne.  Then  the  suburban  bishops  of  Albano,  of  Porto, 
and  of  Ostia  presented  themselves  before  him,  and  succes- 
sively offered  prayers,  which  we  here  produce,  and  which 
seem  to  us  remarkable  and  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God. 
The  Bishop  of  Albano  prayed  first :  "  O  God,  who  does  not 
"  despise  any  one  who  devoutly  invokes  Thee,  we  beseech 
"  Thee  to  listen  to  our  prayers  and  bestow  the  abundance 
"  of  Thy  heavenly  benedictions  on  this  Thy  servant  Boni- 
"  face,  whom  the  common  suffrage  of  Thy  people  has  raised 
"  to  the  Apostolic  Throne  in  order  that  he  may  know  that 
"  it  is  by  Thy  grace  and  favor  that  he  has  obtained  this 
"  high  dignity." — The  Bishop  of  Porto  then  prayed : 
"  Omnipotent  and  Eternal  God,  answer,  according  to 
"  Thy  great  mercy,  our  prayers,  and  fill  with  the  grace  of 
"  the  Holy  Spirit  this  thy  servant  Boniface,  that  he,  who 
"  by  the  ministry  of  our  service  has  been  constituted  the 
"  head  of  the  Church,  may  be  strengthened  with  the  firm- 
"  ness  of  Thy  power." — And  finally  the  Bishop  of  Ostia 
prayed :  "  O  God,  who  hast  desired  that  Thy  Apostle 
"  Peter  should  be  endowed  with  the  Primacy  in  preference 
"  to  any  one  of  the  other  Apostles,  and  had  entrusted  to 
"  him  the  burden  of  the  whole  Christian  world,  we  beseech 
"  Thee  to  be  propitious  to  this  Thy  servant  Boniface,  whom 
"  we  have  raised  against  his  will  to  the  throne  of  the  Prince 
"  of  the  Apostles,  that  inasmuch  as  he  is  made  greater  by 
"  such  dignity,  so  may  he  treasure  up  merits  of  virtue,  and 
"  thus  through  thy  aid  worthily  carry  the  weight  of  the 


HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  89 

"  Universal  Church  and  receive  from  Thee,  who  art  happi- 

"  ness  itself,  the  merited  reward." 

Boniface  advanced  with  great  solemnity  to  the  altar  of 
St.  Peter.  This  was  of  sculptured  marble,  at  the  sides  of 
which  arose  four  columns  of  porphyry,  supporting  a  can- 
opy of  silver,  blackened  by  time,  as  a  precious  covering  for 
the  bones  of  the  Apostles,  which  reposed  beneath.88  We 
believe,  following  the  authority  of  Page,89  that  when  Boni- 
face arrived  at  the  altar  of  St.  Peter,  before  being  conse- 
crated (since  he  was  not  bishop)  he  made  that  profession 
of  faith,  which  we  find  among  the  facts  added  to  Ciac- 
conius  by  Augustine  Oldoini,90  and  which  we  herewith 
translate :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  undivided 
"  Trinity,  in  the  year  of  the  Incarnation  of  Our  Lord,  1294, 
"  the  eighth  Indiction,  I,  Benedict  Gaetani,  Cardinal 
"  Priest,  and  chosen  by  the  grace  of  God  to  be  the  humble 
"  minister  of  this  Holy  Apostolic  See,  promise  to  thee 
"  Blessed  Peter,  prince  of  the  Apostles,  to  whom  Jesus 
"  Christ  Creator  and  Redeemer  of  the  world,  entrusted 
"  the  keys  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  to  bind  and  loose  in 
"  heaven  and  on  earth,  saying :  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind 
"  on  earth,  it  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
"  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  it  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven ; 
"and  I  promise  to  thy  Holy  Church,  which  with  thy  as- 
"  sistance  I  this  day  undertake  to  rule,  that  during  this 
"  miserable  life  I  shall  not  abandon  it,  I  shall  not  deny 
"  it,  I  shall  never  disown  it ;  nor  for  any  reason  or  occasion 
"  of  danger  or  of  fear  shall  I  abandon  it  or  separate  myself 
"  from  it ;  but  even  unto  death  and  at  the  price  of  my  blood 
"  I  shall  strain  every  nerve  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the 

88  James  Cardinal  of  St.  George.     Coronation  of  Boniface  VIII,  chap.  2. 

""Brev.  Gest.  B.  R.  P.  P.  in  the  life  of  Boniface  VIII,  n.  10. 

80 Tom.  2  Col.  311. — Abraham  Bzovio  and  Raynaldus  relate  this,  (ap- 
pendia  to  vol.  3)  from  the  Vatican  MS.  of  Cardinal  Nicholas  of  Aragon. 
Wading  and  Page  declare  this  formula  of  profession  of  faith  to  be 
apocryphal,  because  in  some  parts  the  account  of  Raynaldus  differs  from 
that  of  Page.  But  the  variances  are  not  such  as  to  make  us  believe  it 
apocryphal,  as  Mansi  observes.  We  know  no  reason  for  Ciacconius  main- 
taining that  Boniface  was  the  first  to  make  a  profession  of  faith  before 
becoming  Pope.  Baronius  relates  that  the  Popes  of  the  ninth  century  did 
BO  (year  869,  sec.  59),  which  we  find  in  the  MS.  of  Anthony  Agostini; 
besides  it  is  spoken  of  in  the  Diurnal  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  (sec.  33  and 
35),  which  Garner  mentions. 


90  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  true  Faith,  which  I  have  found  in  thy  Holy  Church^ 
"  Christ  its  author  transmitting  it  through  thee,  and  the 
"  blessed  Apostle  Paul,  and  by  thy  successors  handed  it 
"  down  to  me  who  am  nothing." — And  so  he  goes  on  prom- 
ising to  be  the  preserver  and  defender  of  all  the  dogmas 
approved  by  the  eight  Ecumenical  Councils,  the  papal  de- 
crees and  constitutions,  being  aided  by  the  advice  of  the 
cardinals.  And  he  concludes :  "  I  have  then  with  my  own 
"  hand  subscribed  to  this  profession  of  faith,  which  I  have 
"had  written  by  the  notary  and  secretary  of  the  Holy 
"  Roman  Church,  and  I  sincerely  offer  it  to  thee,  O  Blessed 
"  Apostle  Peter,  with  a  right  intention  and  devout  con- 
"  science  over  thy  holy  body  and  before  thy  altar."  91 

Then  he  began  the  pontifical  Mass,  and  having  finished 
the  Introit  he  sat  on  the  faldstool,  and  the  prelates  and 
priests  came  forward  to  kiss  his  feet ;  then  having  gone  to 
the  altar  of  St.  Peter  he  received  from  the  two  oldest  Car- 
dinal Deacons  the  white  pallium  with  its  black  crosses. 
Then  one  of  them  who  placed  it  around  the  neck  of  the 
Pope,  pronounced  these  words :  "  Eeceive  the  pallium, 
"  which  signifies  the  fullness  of  the  pontifical  office,  for  the 
"  honor  of  the  omnipotent  God,  of  the  Glorious  Virgin  and 
"  Mother  of  God,  Mary,  of  Blessed  Peter  and  Paul,  and 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Church." — After  the  pallium  was  fas- 
tened with  three  gold  pins,  the  Pope  arose,  incensed  the 
altar  and  seated  himself  on  his  throne.  The  Cardinals 
advanced  to  kiss  his  foot  and  cheek;  which  homage  being 
finished,  the  oldest  of  the  cardinal  deacons  with  rod  in 
hand,  arranged  all  the  assistants  in  two  files,  and  in  a 
loud  voice  said :  "  Graciously  hear  us,  O  Christ."  At  once 
the  judges  and  secretaries  exclaimed : — "  Long  live  our 
Lord  Boniface,  created  by  God  Supreme  Pontiff,  an  uni- 
versal Pope." — The  Pope  invoked  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
thrice,  the  Blessed  Virgin  twice,  and  a  few  of  the  saints 
from  the  Litany  once ;  the  others  answered :  "  O  Lord,  aid 
him."  This  ceremony  was  called  the  "  Eulogy "  of  the 
Pontiff.  With  the  usual  ceremonies  he  was  anointed  and 
consecrated  Bishop  and  Pope.  Then  having  seated  him- 
self on  his  throne  before  the  door  of  the  Basilica  of  St. 
Peter,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  people, 
the  oldest  of  the  cardinal  deacons,  having  removed  the 

91  See  Document  F. 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  91 

mitre,  solemnly  placed  the  tiara  on  his  head,  saying :  "  Re- 
ceive the  tiara,  in  order  to  know,  that  thou  art  the  Father 
"  of  Princes  and  of  kings,  the  ruler  of  the  earth,  Vicar  on 
"  earth  of  Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  glory  and 
honor  forever  and  ever." — This  tiara  resembled  a  Phrygian 
biretta,  with  a  simple  crown  at  the  base,  a  sign  of  royal 
power,  which  Constantine  allowed  Pope  Sylvester  to  wear, 
as  Stephaneschi  asserts.92  Boniface  desired  to  increase 
this  by  adding  a  second  crown,  as  Papebroche  relates,93  to 
signify  the  double  power,  spiritual  and  temporal  of  the 
Pope.94  On  the  head  of  Boniface  was  placed  the  tiara  with 
two  crowns,  the  texture  of  which  was  formed  of  peacock 
feathers,  and  at  the  top  was  set  an  immense  carbuncle, 
below  which  there  were  set  round  by  turns  flaming  rubies 
and  all  other  kinds  of  most  precious  stones,  with  which 
it  had  been  lately  adorned  by  order  of  Boniface. 

The  solemn  cavalcade  to  the  church  of  St.  John  Lateran 
followed  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation.  The  Pope  rode  a 
white  steed,  whose  back  was  covered  with  a  purple  cloth, 
the  head  and  breast  being  bare.  The  horses  which  the  car- 
dinals and  prelates  rode  were  covered  with  white  material, 
and  those  of  the  subdeacons,  chaplains  and  clerks  were 
bare.  As  soon  as  all  were  ready  to  start,  the  eldest  of  the 
deacons  arranged  the  cavalcade  in  this  manner:  at  the 
head  of  all  went  the  Papal  horse  richly  caparisoned,  and 
led  by  the  bridle;  afterwards  came  a  subdeacon  carrying 
a  cross,  a  custom  established  by  St.  Sylvester,  as  Fivisani 
states.95  Then  twelve  standard  bearers  with  scarlet  ban- 
ners, and  two  others  carrying  a  cherub  at  the  point  of  a 
lance.  Then  followed  two  naval  prefects  (an  office  which 
no  longer  exists)  vested  in  copes,  the  clerks,  the  advocates, 
the  judges,  the  singers,  the  deacons  of  the  Epistle  and 

K  Chap.  7.  w  In  conatu  Chron.  ec  ad  S.  Sylvester  n.  5,  page  128. 

"Pope  Innocent  III  would  have  mitre  and  tiara  mean  the  same,  saying 
in  his  sermon  on  St.  Sylvester :  "  R.  Pontif ex  in  signum  imperil  utitur 
Regno,  et  in  signum  Pontificii  utitur  Mitra."  And  more  solemnly  else- 
where: "Ecclesia  in  signum  temporalium  dedit  mihi  Coronam;  in  signum 
spiritualium  contulit  mihi  Mitram  pro  Sacerdotio,  Coronam  pro  Regno: 
illius  me  constituens  Vicarium,  qui  habet  in  vestimento  et  in  femore 
scriptum. — Rex  regum  et  dominus  dominantium. — >(Burio  Notices  Rom. 
Pontiffs,  page  579).  See  also  Fioraranti.  Denarii  Summorum  Pontificum 
pages  56  and  57,  letter  N.  S. 

86  De  ritu  S.  Crucis  Pontifici  pra«ferendae  commentarium  Rom.  1592  in  4. 


92  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Greek  Gospel,  the  country  abbots,  the  bishops,  the  arch- 
bishops, the  city  abbots,  the  patriarchs,  the  cardinals,  the 
cardinal  deacons,  the  cardinal  priests,  and  finally  the  Pope 
on  a  white  horse,  attended  by  a  subdeacon  who  held  an 
umbrella  over  his  head.  For  a  short  distance  King  Charles 
the  Lame,  and  Charles,  king  elect  of  Hungary,  held  the 
bridle  of  the  Pontifical  horse,  and  they  were  relieved  by 
two  nobles.  No  one  is  to  wonder  at  this  part  of  the  cere- 
mony, and  judge  it  a  little  unbecoming  to  royal  dignity, 
when  we  consider  that  these  kings  attended  and  performed 
this  humble  act  both  as  vassals  of  the  Church,  and  fol- 
lowers of  the  Vicar  of  Christ. — 

The  cavalcade  being  thus  formed,  marched  along  the 
street  called  Papal,  to  the  church  of  St.  John  Lateran,  and 
along  the  route  in  certain  places  some  member  of  the  Pope's 
family  threw  money  among  the  people.  Upon  arriving  at 
the  portico  of  the  Lateran,  the  Pope  was  met  by  the  canons 
of  that  Basilica,  and  having  taken  off  the  Tiara,  he  seated 
himself  on  the  prophyry  chair,  called  the  "  Stercoraria." 
Hardly  was  he  seated,  when  some  of  the  cardinals  came 
forward  and  paying  him  all  kinds  of  honors,  raised  him 
up ;  and  he,  standing  took  three  handf uls  of  money  and  cast 
them  among  the  people,  saying :  "  Gold  and  silver  I  have 
not,  behold  what  I  have."  So  in  the  midst  of  all  those 
honors,  emblematic  of  the  Papal  dignity,  by  sitting  on  a 
chair  of  lowly  name,  and  by  scattering  a  little  money,  he 
signified  the  humility  and  poverty  of  human  nature,  which 
was  not  transformed  by  such  a  stupendous  elevation  of 
state. 

Having  left  this  seat,  he  was  escorted  by  the  cardinals 
to  the  altar  of  the  Basilica,  where  loud  voices  were  heard 
proclaiming  him  Pope :  "  St.  Peter  has  chosen  Boniface." 
At  the  altar  he  prayed  and  blessed  the  people,  and  repaired 
to  a  raised  marble  seat  and  extended  his  foot  to  be  kissed 
by  the  Lateran  canons.  Afterwards  he  was  conducted  to 
the  palace  of  Pope  Zachary,  at  the  entrance  of  which  he 
seated  himself  on  a  faldstool,  and  listened  to  an  address 
of  praise,  as  was  previously  done  at  the  Vatican.  He  then 
went  to  the  Church  of  St.  Sylvester,  and  also  lingered  at 
the  entrance,  where  there  were  two  porphyry  seats;  he 
seated  himself  in  the  one  that  was  on  the  right,  and  the 
head  canon  of  the  Lateran  handed  him  a  crosier  as  a  sign 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  93 

of  jurisdiction,  as  well  as  the  keys  of  the  Basilica  and  the 
Palace;  holding  these  insignia  in  his  hands  he  sat  down  in 
the  chair  on  the  left,  and  returned  them  to  the  one  who 
had  presented  them.  The  head  canon  placed  around  the 
Pontiff  a  red  silk  cincture,  from  which  hung  a  purple 
burse  containing  twelve  precious  stones,  the  moss  agate 
seals.  And  thus  arrayed,  the  Pope  extended  his  foot  to 
be  kissed  by  the  officials  of  the  palace,  and  with  three 
throws  he  cast  ten  pennies  of  Provence  among  them  say- 
ing: "  Dispersit,  dedit  pauperibus;  justitia  ejus  manet  in 
saeculum  saeculi,"  "  He  hath  distributed,  he  hath  given 
to  the  poor;  his  justice  remaineth  forever  and  ever." — 
Afterwards  he  visited  the  chapel  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  hav- 
ing taken  off  the  pallium  and  the  other  vestments,  clothed 
with  the  Pontifical  cloak  he  retired  to  his  apartments  for 
the  solemn  banquet. 

We  are  not  sure  whether  the  Cardinal  of  St.  George  was 
carried  away  by  the  force  of  imagination  in  describing  in 
verse  the  hall  where  the  papal  banquet  was  held.  But  we 
may  credit  all  he  says,  basing  our  belief  on  the  greatness 
and  magnificence  of  the  soul  of  Boniface.  The  hall  was  re- 
splendent with  gold;  the  walls  were  decorated  with  the 
richest  ornaments;  jewelled  drinking  cups  and  precious 
dishes  covered  the  bedecked  tables ;  and  a  very  large  number 
of  nobles  by  their  richness  of  dress  added  to  the  splendor  of 
the  scene.  The  Pope  sat  at  a  separate  table,  which  was 
raised  above  the  others,  and  had  a  richer  display  of  orna- 
ments ;  before  him  stood  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia  with 
two  Cardinal  Deacons  holding  a  towel  while  he  poured 
water  for  the  Pope  to  wash  his  hands.  The  Pope  invoked 
the  blessing,  seated  himself  at  his  own  particular  table, 
which  was  at  the  head  of  two  long  rows  of  other  tables. 
At  those  on  the  right  the  Cardinal  Bishops  and  Priests 
were  sitting;  at  those  on  the  left  the  Cardinal  Deacons, 
and  on  each  side  the  prelates,  barons  and  other  lords  were 
arranged.  The  Pope  was  attired  in  mitre  and  pontifical 
robes;  before  him  were  the  most  illustrious  nobles,  and 
Kings  Charles  the  Lame,  and  Charles  of  Hungary,  in  royal 
garments  and  wearing  crowns,  attentive  to  the  commands 
of  Boniface,  like  knights-esquire.  The  two  princes  re- 
mained in  this  obsequious  attitude  until  the  end  of  the 
first  course,  and  then  they  retired  to  occupy  seats  at  the 


94  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

first  table  between  the  Cardinal  Bishops  and  Cardinal 
Deacons.  When  the  feasting  was  over,  the  Pope  was  con- 
ducted to  his  apartments,  and  thus  the  ceremony  of  the 
solemn  coronation  was  brought  to  an  end.  If  Wadding 
is  to  be  believed,  these  feasts  were  disturbed  by  sad  acci- 
dents. On  the  arrival  of  Boniface  at  the  Lateran  Basilica, 
the  day  was  turned  into  night  by  the  darkest  storm  clouds, 
which  burst  into  a  raging  tempest,  and  which  extinguish- 
ing the  torches  and  lamps,  seemed  as  if  it  would  prohibit 
an  entrance  into  the  Basilica  to  the  Pope  who  was  ap- 
proaching. Besides  as  Boniface  was  leaving  the  Basilica, 
an  altercation  arose  among  the  people,  the  greatest  con- 
fusion followed,  and  more  than  forty  of  the  Papal  retinue 
were  killed.  If  these  facts  are  true,  we  do  not  doubt  that 
those  sad  disorders  of  the  elements  and  of  men  were  pre- 
cursors of  those  more  terrible  disturbances,  which  would 
later  on  agitate  the  chair  of  the  imperturbable  Pontiff. 

As  soon  as  Boniface  was  seated  in  the  Apostolic  Chair, 
he  wished  to  announce  to  the  Universal  Church  his  assump- 
tion of  the  Papacy.  The  Bull  which  he  addressed  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Sens  and  his  suffragans,  is  a  splendid  monu- 
ment of  the  eloquence,  which  breathes  the  very  spirit  of 
God,  and  which  never  became  degenerate  notwithstanding 
the  great  and  lasting  domination  of  the  barbarians  inflicted 
on  our  country.  And  since  the  entire  soul  of  Boniface 
appears  in  the  writing,  we  shall  produce  it  in  the  vernac- 
ular, though  we  shall  not  be  able  to  equal  the  excellence 
of  the  original  text,96  which  may  be  found  among  the  docu- 
ments at  the  end  of  this  work.  "  That  God  wonderful  and 
"  glorious  in  his  works,  who,  being  most  bountiful  of 
"  mercy,  exercises  his  compassion  in  this  world  full  of 
"  trials  and  dissensions,  is  no  less  propitious  in  favoring 
"  opportunely  his  Church,  which  he  the  maker  of  all  things 
"  has  founded,  and  has  built  with  a  deep  and  firm  founda- 
"  tion  on  the  immovable  rock  of  Faith.  As  her  watchful 
11  custodian,  he  is  ever  at  her  side,  never  sleeping,  nor  slow 
"  in  hastening  to  her  in  her  needs.  He  is  indeed  her  paci- 
"  fier  in  disturbances,  her  relief  in  tribulations,  and  her 
"  succor  in  necessities.  And  therefore  his  boundless  com- 
"  passion  is  chiefly  exercised  in  her  favor,  when,  in  a  dark 
"  hour,  the  storm  clouds  of  this  world  rise  up  against  her. 
*•  See  Document  B. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  95 

"  Hence  she  is  fearless  in  the  midst  of  anguish  and  afflic- 
"  tions,  gathering  strength  in  persecution,  for  she  is  in- 
"  vigorated  in  the  presence  of  evils.  For  fortified  by  divine 
"  aid,  she  is  not  to  be  intimidated  by  the  sound  of  threats, 
"  nor  overcome  by  the  assault  of  adversities,  but  more  se- 
"  cure  in  terrors,  more  constant  in  misfortune,  trampled 
"  upon  she  prevails,  suffering  she  triumphs.  This  is  pre- 
<(  cisely  the  Ark,  which  by  the  swelling  of  the  waters  is 
"  raised  aloft,  and  having  passed  over  the  summits  of  the 
"  mountains,  sails  safe  and  free  beating  down  the  waves 
"of  the  mighty  flood.  This  is  surely  that  vessel,  which 
"  amid  contrary  winds  is  tossed  about  by  the  furious  mo- 
"  tions  of  a  raging  sea ;  yet  firm  and  staunch  it  is  not 
"  shattered  by  the  surging  billows,  nor  engulfed  by  the 
"  stormy  anger  of  the  sea ;  but  weathering  the  risen  temp- 
"  est,  and  riding  the  proudly  foaming  billows,  she  triumph- 
"  antly  pursues  her  course.  The  sails  of  right  intention 
"  being  unfurled  on  the  living  tree  of  the  saving  Cross 
"  ever  looking  towards  Heaven,  intrepidly  she  passes  over 
"  the  stormy  sea  of  this  world ;  because  she  has  with  her  a 
"  watchful  pilot  the  master  of  the  seas.  Wherefore  under 
"  his  rule  and  safe  direction,  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
"  Holy  Ghost,  the  clouds  of  adversity  being  dispersed, 
"victoriously  she  pursues  her  course  towards  the  port  of 
"  the  heavenly  country,  to  which  she  is  conducted  by  a 
"  supernatural  hand.  And  although  the  Church  was  op- 
"  pressed  and  disturbed  by  innumerable  misfortunes  that 
"  which  opens  the  deepest  and  most  painful  wound  in  her 
"  heart,  is  to  be  bereft  of  a  good  and  provident  pastor.  .  . 
"  In  truth  the  Roman  Church  deprived  of  its  head  by 
"  free  and  spontaneous  resignation  that  our  beloved  son 
"  and  brother  Peter  Morrone,  lately  the  Roman  Pontiff, 
"  has  made  for  certain  reasonable  and  legitimate  causes, 
"in  presence  of  our  venerable  brethren  the  bishops,  and 
"  our  beloved  sons  the  Cardinal-priests  and  deacons, 
"  among  whom  we  were  numbered,  on  the  feast  day  of  St. 
"  Lucy,  Virgin  and  Martyr  lately  passed,  this  resignation 
"  being  received  by  the  aforesaid  cardinals,  since  from  the 
"acts  of  the  first  Pontiffs,  and  by  a  constitution  he  de- 
"  clared  openly  that  the  thing  could  be  done  lawfully,  and 
"  the  express  consent  of  the  same  cardinals  was  added  for 
"  the  legitimacy  of  the  act ;  the  cardinals  considering  most 


gg  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

'"attentively  what  great  evils  and  manifold  calamities 
*  would  follow  from  a  long  vacancy  in  the  Church,  and 
"  besides  wishing  most  ardently  to  obviate  these  dangers 
"  by  immediate  and  efficacious  remedies,  on  Thursday,  the 
"  23rd  of  December,  after  the  holy  sacrifice  was  solemnly 
"  offered  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  usual  hymn 
"  was  devoutly  sung,  shut  themselves  up  in  conclave  in  a 
"  certain  room  of  the  new  Castle  situated  near  Naples, 
"  where  the  same  brother  Peter,  was  residing  with  his 
"  family,  in  order  that  by  the  mutual  and  opportune  ex- 
"  change  of  sentiments,  the  Holy  Ghost  cooperating,  they 
"  could  the  sooner  provide  for  the  want  of  the  Church.  On 
"  Friday  the  day  following  the  aforesaid  cardinals,  hav- 
"  ing  raised  their  thoughts  in  prayer  to  the  Lord,  who 
"  looks  with  favor  on  holy  desires,  proceeded  to  the  elec- 
"  tion  by  way  of  votes  in  order  to  avoid  the  above  men- 
"  tioned  evils.  Finally  the  divine  clemency  having  pitied 
"  the  Church,  and  not  wishing  to  subject  it  to  the  dangers 
"  of  a  longer  vacancy,  the  cardinals  cast  their  eyes  (at 
"that  time  a  Cardinal-Priest  of  the  title  of  St.  Martin) 
"  and  although  there  were  many  among  them  more  fitted 
"  and  more  worthy,  they  canonically  selected  us  as  the 
"  Supreme  Pontiff,  placing  on  our  shoulders  a  burden  so 
"very  weighty.  But  after  deep  and  careful  meditation 
"  considering  the  difficulties  of  the  pastoral  office,  the 
"  anxieties  and  continual  trials,  and  the  excellence  of  the 
"  Apostolic  dignity,  which  just  as  it  elevates  one  by  the 
"  title  of  the  highest  honor,  so  it  humbles  one  by  the  great- 
"  ness  of  the  burden  •  moreover  being  mindful  of  our  many 
"  imperfections,  we  strongly  feared  and  hesitated,  and  a 

"  great  stupor  stunned  our  mind However 

"  lest  perhaps  we  might  be  thought  to  impede  the  work  of 
"divine  Providence,  or  not  wishing  to  conform  our  will 
"  to  his  pleasure ;  and  besides  being  unwilling  to  change 
"  the  unanimity  of  the  electors  into  disunion  by  our  dis- 
"  sent,  we  submitted  to  their  pleasure  by  taking  on  our 
"  weak  shoulders  the  yoke  they  wish  us  to  carry,  not  that 
"we  confide  in  the  strength  of  our  own  integrity,  but  be- 
"  cause  we  hope  for  clemency  from  Him  who  never  aban- 
"  dons  those  who  confide  in  Him ;  for  He  is  ever  propitious 
"  to  them  by  suitable  helps,  and  from  his  most  high  throne 
"  in  Heaven  mercifully  guards  and  defends  the  Church 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  97 

"  his  spouse,  and  ceases  not  to  exalt  it  by  abundant  gifts 
"  of  compassion. 

"  Therefore  truly  in  need  of  your  prayers  and  those  of 
"  others  on  account  of  our  shortcomings,  with  solicitude 
"  we  exhort  you,  and  confidently  ask  you,  that  by  diligent 
"  intercession  you  will  aid  us  before  the  Eternal  King, 
"  recommending  our  lowliness  by  devout  supplication,  so 
11  that  He  may  condescend  to  multiply  the  gifts  of  his 
"  grace  to  us,  and  pour  forth  an  abundant  shower  of  his 
"  heavenly  blessings,  in  order  that,  devoutly  directing  our 
"  actions  to  Him,  we  may  rightly  rule  his  Church,  which 
"  He  has  been  pleased  to  commit  to  us,  and  that  we  may 
"  take  due  care  of  the  universal  flock,  which  is  committed 
"  to  our  vigilance.  We  then  shall  bear  strongly  in  mind 
"  to  assist  your  Churches  benignly,  and  promote  their  in- 
"  terests  by  suitable  favors."  Given  in  the  Lateran  on  the 
9th  Kalends  of  February,  the  first  year  of  our  Pontificate. 

We  have  not  found  in  the  well-preserved  register  of  the 
letters  of  this  Pontiff,  which  is  in  the  secret  archives  of 
the  Vatican,  any  letter  directed  to  Princes,  informing 
them  of  his  elevation  to  the  Papacy.  Only  one  is  found, 
which  is  second  on  the  register,  and  it  is  written  to  the 
King  of  France,  Philip  the  Fair,  on  this  subject,97  which 
full  of  salutary  instructions,  is  a  clear  manifestation  of 
that  love  which  Boniface  bore  to  Philip,  with  whom  he 
had  been  acquainted  from  the  time  he  had  been  sent  as  a 
legate  into  France  by  Nicholas  IV.  Which  fact  recalling 
with  brotherly  affection,  he  promises  that  it  would  be 
taken  as  a  sign  of  future  pontifical  favors.  And  continu- 
ing with  candor  and  with  a  majesty  truly  Koman,  he  wrote : 
"  We  beseech  and  urgently  exhort  your  royal  Highness, 
"  and  we  entreat  you  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  con- 
"  sidering  attentively  how  the  honor  of  the  King  loves 
"  justice,  you  observe  scrupulously  the  limits  of  this  virtue, 
"  and  that  you  study  to  love  it  sincerely,  not  abandoning 
"  equity,  nor  omitting  clemency,  in  order  that  the  immense 
"  number  of  people  subject  to  you  may  rest  in  the  bosom 
"  of  sweet  peace,  and  repose  in  a  rich  quiet  leisure.  More- 
"  over  favor  with  royal  kindness,  and  exert  yourself  to 
"  defend  valiantly  and  protect  in  the  fullness  of  her  liberty 
"  and  her  rights,  your  Holy  Mother,  the  Church,  and  her 

"  See  Document  H. 


Qg  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

"  prelates,  the  true  ministers  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  other 
"  ecclesiastical  personages  consecrated  to  her  service,  or 
"  rather  in  them  honor  the  King  and  Master  of  Heaven, 
"  through  whom  thou  rulest  and  art  ruled ;  that  acting  and 
"  behaving  towards  them,  like  a  blessed  and  favored  son, 
"  you  may  not  only  be  a  worthy  imitator  of  your  ancestors, 
"  who  during  life  showed  the  greatest  reverence  and  re- 
"  spect  to  that  same  Church,  but  that  you  may  even  ssur- 
"  pass  them  for  the  praise  and  glory  of  God,  and  for  the 
"  furtherance  of  the  glory  of  your  own  honor  and  name. 
"  Placing  then  in  us  a  firm  hope  and  confidence,  as  in  a 
"  kind  and  sincere  father,  who  bears  towards  you  a  cordial 
"  love,  and  who  will  not  cease  to  love  you,  do  not  hesitate 
"  to  have  recourse  to  us  in  your  own  pressing  affairs,  and 
"  those  of  your  kingdom.  For  on  the  day  that  we  shall  be 
"  entreated  by  your  royal  person,  willingly,  and  as  far 
"  as  we  can  with  God's  help,  we  shall  satisfy  your  royal 
"  desires,  intending  always  not  only  to  preserve  carefully 
"your  prosperity  and  that  of  your  kingdom,  but  also  to 
"  promote  and  increase  it  by  the  gift  of  great  favors." 

Such  was  the  kind  feeling  which  Boniface  bore  towards 
Philip  IV,  surnamed  the  Fair,  when  he  came  to  rule  the 
Christian  Church;  that  Philip,  we  say,  who  soon  we  shall 
see  impelled  by  an  innate  pride,  by  court  intrigues  and 
jealousies  of  state,  so  that  he  waged  a  brutal  war  against 
him,  hurled  him  into  his  grave,  and  with  incredible  rage 
was  cruel  to  his  memory,  not  hesitating  to  disgrace  himself 
by  fabricating  calumnies  against  that  magnanimous  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter.  Angry  passions  which  swayed  the 
minds  of  those  of  his  times,  bitter  and  unamenable  to 
reason,  will  not  suffice  to  conquer  the  power  of  history, 
which  as  a  queen  in  the  midst  of  the  ages,  dispenses  praise 
and  blame  with  an  iron  hand. 


BOOK    SECOND. 

SUMMARY. 

1295—1296. 

The  mission  of  Boniface  in  the  Papacy. — The  Guelphg  and  the  Ghibel- 
lines;  the  former  allied  to  the  Papacy,  and  the  latter  to  the  Empire. — 
The  character  of  these  parties. — It  becomes  difficult  for  the  Popes  to 
govern  the  degenerate  Guelphs. — Some  cardinals  and  the  Roman  no- 
bility increase  the  difficulties. — 'The  aid  which  the  Friars  brought  to 
the  Papacy,  and  their  faults. — Boniface  unprovided  with  means  resists 
the  Ghibellines,  and  what  enemies  he  encounters. — He  repairs  to 
Anagni,  and  is  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Colonnas  at  Zagarolo. — • 
How  and  why  the  former  Pope  Celestine  disturbed  the  repose  of  Boni- 
face.— 'The  flight  of  Celestine. — The  Camerlengo  of  the  Pope  is  dis- 
patched after  him. — He  flies  and  wanders  along  the  sea-shore  at  Viesta. 
— He  is  intercepted  and  conducted  to  Boniface.  — How  Boniface  re- 
ceived him,  and  why  he  shut  him  up  in  the  castle  of  Fumone. — 
Opinions  formed  by  people  concerning  this  imprisonment. — Death  of 
Celestine. — The  frenzy  of  fanatics  at  the  condition  of  his  skull. — 
Boniface  undertakes  to  be  peacemaker  among  princes;  and  revives  the 
rights  of  the  Church  over  the  kingdom  of  Naples. — How  he  hoped  to 
bring  about  peace. — He  draws  up  at  Anagni  a  treaty  of  peace  between 
Aragon,  France,  and  Naples. — He  dispatches  a  legate  to  Catalonia  to 
attend  to  it,  and  the  instructions  he  gives  him. — He  follows  him  by 
letters,  and  clears  the  way  of  obstacles. — He  invites  Frederick  to  an 
interview. — Frederick  before  proceeding  consults  the  Sicilians,  who  by 
letters  advise  him  not  to  take  the  step. — His  meeting  with  Boniface. — 
What  things  Boniface  promises  him,  if  he  will  leave  Sicily. — Charles 
II  being  absent,  how  Boniface  provides  for  the  government  of  Naples. 
— He  undertakes  to  pacify  northern  Italy. — Genoa  and  Venice. — He 
wishes  to  disarm  these  two  unfriendly  republics,  but  the  Genoese 
frustrate  his  designs. — Florence  always  Guelph  in  her  principles,  is 
torn  by  internal  dissensions. — Boniface  delivers  her  from  a  foreign 
governor. — How  the  factions  agitate  Romagna,  Umbria  and  the  Marches, 
and  what  the  effect  of  the  papal  power  over  these  provinces. — Guy  of 
Montefeltro  and  his  deeds. — Boniface  cares  for  the  government  of 
Romagna,  and  returns  to  Guy  the  possession  of  his  estates. — The  fire 
of  war  cannot  be  extinguished  there. — He  dispatches  William  Dur- 
ant. — Who  was  this  man. — Philip,  the  Fair. — A  description  of  him.— 
How  France  feebly  opposes  him  in  his  tyranny,  and  how  the  jurists 
aid  him. — He  finds  the  Pontiffs  to  be  an  obstacle. — He  dishonors  him- 

99 


100  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

self  by  criminal  and  base  robberies. — A  description  of  Edward  of  Eng- 
land.— He  is  at  war  against  Philip. — Both  fortify  themselves  by  al- 
liances, which  disturb  the  greater  part  of  Europe. — Why  Boniface 
interposes  as  a  peacemaker  between  them. — He  dispatches  legates 
to  bring  them  to  an  agreement. — They  obtain  a  truce,  but  it  is  soon 
ended  by  the  French  resuming  hostilities. — {Letters  of  Boniface  to  Ed- 
ward.— Other  legates  are  sent  to  Adolph,  King  of  the  Romans,  and  the 
words  by  which  Boniface  addresses  him. — Sad  effects  of  the  war. — 
Philip  the  Fair  debases  the  public  money. — Religious  conditions  of 
Denmark;  the  encroachments  of  the  King  restrained  by  the  bishops. — 
The  kings  persevering  in  their  tyranny,  the  bishops  resist  them. — Eric 
VI  of  Denmark,  imprisons  the  Archbishop,  and  the  Provost  Lunden. — • 
With  what  hypocrisy  he  justifies  his  violent  tyranny. — Escape  of  the 
prisoners;  the  prudent  but  vigorous  remonstrances  of  Boniface  to  the 
Danish  King. — Sicilian  envoys  to  James,  King  of  Aragon. — Their  grief 
and  that  of  all  Sicily  at  seeing  themselves  abandoned  by  him. — 'Fred- 
erick is  proclaimed  king. — Boniface  sends  Calamandrano  to  Sicily  to 
establish  peace. — His  overtures  are  furiously  rejected  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Messina. — But  Roger  of  Loria  is  detached  from  Frederick. — 
Boniface  creates  new  cardinals. — He  raises  the  feasts  of  the  Evange- 
lists and  the  four  Latin  Doctors,  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Jerome  and 
Gregory. 

THE  thirteenth  century  was  just  ending  when  Boniface 
assumed  the  government  of  the  Roman  Church.  In  the 
difficult  administration  he  had  been  preceded  by  two  great 
popes,  Gregory  VII  and  Innocent  III,  who  although  they 
had  used  their  every  endeavor  to  reestablish  the  Church  of 
God  after  the  disastrous  times  of  the  Barbarians,  yet  they 
had  not  been  able  to  perpetuate  in  a  way  that  foresight  of 
theirs  which  would  render  impossible  the  return  or  rather 
the  continuation  of  the  causes  which  promoted  clerical  dis- 
orders, and  imperiled  the  liberty  of  the  Church.  Gregory 
had  brought  back  the  clergy  to  a  consciousness  of  their 
high  dignity,  lifting  them  out  of  the  mire  of  human  defile- 
ment; Innocent  placed  the  Church  on  a  high  throne  from 
which  she  commanded  the  entire  world.  We  have  said, 
in  the  beginning,  that  after  Innocent  up  to  the  epoch  of 
which  we  are  narrating  the  history,  the  work  of  these  pon- 
tiffs had  been  without  ceasing  threatened;  and  in  such  a 
state,  when  Boniface  ascended  the  throne,  did  he  find  the 
Church  which  he  swore  to  preserve  free  and  uncontami- 
nated.  The  corruption  of  morals  up  to  that  time  had  been 
engendered  by  ignorance,  or  blindness  of  mind ;  the  servi- 
tude was  that  imposed  by  the  German  Empire.  Knowl- 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

edge  being  propagated  in  the  numerous  universities 
founded  throughout  Europe,  and  the  imperial  colossus 
having  fallen,  it  seemed  that  the  times  would  become 
better.  But  the  tyrants  had  multiplied  on  the  ruins  of 
that  empire;  and  whilst  minds  wearied  themselves  in  the 
search  after  the  True  in  the  dry  fields  of  law  and  theology, 
hearts  were  beating  strongly  by  reason  of  civil  strifes; 
and  in  the  clash  of  factions  human  cupidity  was  aroused, 
and  raged  furiously  when  charity  for  fellow  creatures  was 
driven  out.  So  while  the  electors  of  Germany  with  the 
imperial  crown  in  their  hands  did  not  know  to  whom  to 
offer  it  after  the  extinction  of  the  powerful  house  of 
Suabia;  awhile  Bologna,  Padua,  Naples,  Paris,  and 
Cologne,  were  admiring  people  of  wisdom  within  their 
walls,  the  Church  was  bemoaning  a  new  servitude  that  was 
imposed  on  her,  she  was  feeling  ashamed  on  account  of  the 
disorderly  actions  of  many  of  her  ministers. 

The  struggles  between  the  orders  of  civil  society  had 
succeeded  the  rivalries  of  the  great  families,  and  if  those 
gigantic  catastrophes  visited  on  entire  peoples  no  longer 
occurred,  nevertheless  men  were  led  to  more  lasting  lamen- 
tation on  account  of  the  rabidness  of  the  factions  which 
are  the  results,  either  of  elevation  to  rank,  or  descent  from 
the  same.  The  princes  were  contending  among  themselves, 
because  invested  with  power,  they  weighed  their  rights  in 
the  scales  of  justice;  the  people  forced  by  necessity,  bear- 
ing still  the  bloody  traces  of  foreign  incursions  were  stimu- 
lated to  reestablish  themselves  and  arrive  at  the  difficult 
adjustment  of  their  own  rights.  The  Roman  Pontiff  could 
still  raise  himself  as  the  arbiter  of  justice  above  kings  and 
the  people,  but  the  close  contact  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibel- 
line  parties  to  his  chair  was  a  great  danger;  so  he  was 
seen  now  and  then  to  weaver  and  to  be  wanting  in  that  im- 
perturbable firmness  so  necessary  for  such  an  office.  For 
this  reason  Boniface  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  should 
first  be  considered  in  the  center  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibel- 
line  factions,  from  which  emanate  all  his  relations  with  the 
Church,  with  Italy,  and  with  the  world. 

The  two  factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  in  Italy 
seemed  two  branches  productive  only  of  bad  fruit,  and  by 
which  was  wasted  all  the  strength  of  the  old  Latin  blood 
that  was  needed  to  nourish  the  trunk  of  that  nation  and 


1Q2  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

give  it  new  life.  Foreign  in  its  origin,  God  had  prepared 
for  the  people  of  Italy  a  family  life.  The  Barbarians,  the 
Italians  and  the  Greeks  measured  swords  to  determine  for 
the  future  which  one  would  hold  sway  over  the  Italian 
territory.  The  Papacy  could  speak  words  of  peace  to  all 
of  them,  because  its  dominion  was  not  of  the  earth.  It  did 
in  fact  speak  to  them  when  it  withstood  not  the  men  in- 
dividually but  the  errors  they  personified.  It  told  the 
Barbarians  that  savage  force  was  not  the  reason  of  God; 
it  told  the  Italians  that  their  own  country  appealed  to 
them  to  live  fraternally  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord;  it  as- 
sured the  Greeks  that  the  imperial  was  not  the  will  of  God. 
The  Barbarian  became  Italian  the  Italian  became  papal, 
the  Greek  retired  from  the  shores  of  Apulia  and  Calabria ; 
because  God  did  not  wish  even  a  small  corner  of  Italy  to 
divide  with  the  latter  the  punishment  which  was  to  make 
them  pass  from  the  corrupted  theological  disputes  of  the 
courts  of  the  Constances,  of  the  Zenos  and  of  the  Heraclii 
into  the  mire  of  Islamism. 

The  German  emperors  came  unexpectedly  on  the  scene, 
and  their  power  and  the  splendor  of  the  imperial  mon- 
archy engaged  the  attention  of  many,  and  revived  in  them 
the  memory  of  the  ancient  Latin  empire.  So  were  men 
divided,  who  all  of  one  accord  looked  upon  the  Roman 
Papacy  as  a  nucleus  of  a  civil  reorganization.  Some 
turned  hopefully  to  Home,  others  to  Germany.  The  former 
less  refined  in  mind,  but  more  generous  of  heart,  being 
jealous  of  liberty  consecrated  it  by  entrusting  it  to  the 
Vicar  of  Christ ;  the  latter  more  active  minded  in  order  to 
profit  by  ancient  memories,  being  anxious  for  greatness, 
sold  their  liberty.  Strange  names,  bloody  ones  of  foreign 
factions,  were  applied  to  the  Papal  and  imperial  parti- 
sans. Guelphs  the  one,  and  Ghibellines  the  other,  were 
the  names  by  which  they  were  known. 

In  every  action  there  is  a  principal  which  individualises 
it,  and  it  is  always  either  really  or  apparently  good.  A 
paternal  and  defensive  dominion  the  Guelphs  sought  from 
the  Papacy,  the  Ghibellines  a  splendid  and  a  powerful  one 
from  the  Empire.  But  if  the  former  did  not  violate  jus- 
tice, the  latter  scorned  it  by  inviting  a  most  powerful 
foreigner  into  their  weak  country.  The  diversity  of  lan- 
guage and  of  customs,  the  seas  which  separate,  and  the 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

mountains  which  enclose,  are  the  boundaries  set  by  Heaven 
for  indicating  the  individuality  of  nations,  and  how  each 
may  sit  protected  at  the  feet  of  that  justice  which  dis- 
penses to  each  its  own.  Hence  that  overflow  from  beyond 
the  Alps  of  foreign  races  summoned  for  the  wedding  of 
Italy  to  the  dangerous  imperial  monarchy  was  a  violation 
of  the  laws  of  Providence,  a  sacrilege  against  justice,  and 
a  ravishment  of  the  mother  country. 

Therefore  the  Papacy  was  called,  and  by  reason  of  its 
mission,  found  itself  at  the  head  of  the  Guelph  faction, 
together  with  all  the  clergy;  so  that  it  seemed  that  the 
adhesion  of  the  Guelphs  to  Rome  was  an  answer  to  that 
appeal  for  order  which  was  made  by  the  Vatican  to  all 
Italy  in  the  times  of  the  Barbarians.  So  long  as  they  did 
not  break  faith  with  the  Pontiffs,  and  nobly  struggled  for 
justice  and  for  the  freedom  of  their  country  and  the 
Church,  they  were  a  wonder  to  the  world ;  it  was  not  in  the 
defiles  of  the  mountains,  but  on  the  open  field  of  Legnano 
that  the  Lombards  stood  united  and  immovable  in  face  of 
all  Germany,  and  were  victorious.  But  this  victory  viti- 
ated the  minds  of  the  victors,  and  whilst  Alexander  III 
blessed  their  victory,  misunderstandings  arose  among 
themselves.  Principle  was  no  longer  regarded,  but  men 
hated  one  another ;  and  all  were  badly  misled.  Guelphism 
(we  mean  the  idea  and  not  simply  the  name)  had  only  one 
period,  in  which  it  was  truly  represented  in  all  the  purity 
of  its  idea  by  the  Pope  and  by  the  Lombard  League.  From 
that  time  deplorable  indeed  were  the  reasons  why  an 
Italian  was  a  Guelph  or  Ghibelline.  Jealousy  between 
the  nobility  and  populace,  and  municipal  emulation  pos- 
sessed their  minds  and  hearts  rather  than  the  grand  Papal 
idea;  and  whilst  the  Guelphs  were  smiting  their  adver- 
saries with  their  hands,  they  gazed  with  threatening  eyes 
and  hearts  upon  the  people  or  city  against  which  they  were 
more  directly  waging  war. 

The  original  object  being  lost  sight  of,  minds  fluctuated, 
fraternal  blood  was  spilled,  and  the  Italians  with  their 
own  hands  were  shaping  a  future,  the  worthy  recompense 
of  so  many  fratricides.  Men  there  were  of  lofty  minds,  like 
Dante,  who  in  Guelphism  had  placed  the  highest  hopes  of 
good;  but  being  confused  and  plunged  in  civil  discords, 
they  could  not  sacrifice  the  present  necessities  for  a  prin- 


104  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

ciple,  which  through  human  perversity  resulted  in  a  bar- 
ren Utopia.  The  character  of  the  factions  being  changed, 
the  Popes  could  no  longer  direct  that  of  the  Guelphs.  They 
changed  their  tactics  and  called  the  French  into  Italy. 
In  this  they  made  a  grievous  mistake,  although  their  error 
was  a  necessary  consequence  of  that  of  the  people.  But 
they  suffered  punishment  for  it  in  the  multiplication  of 
duties  which  they  were  obliged  to  fulfil ;  namely,  to  put  an 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  mercenaries  who  were  overrun- 
ning the  Empire,  to  resist  the  Ghibellines,  and  to  combat 
vigorously  the  vice  that  was  gnawing  the  vitals  of  Guelph- 
ism.  So  that  the  work  of  Alexander  III  was  a  solemn 
creation,  prolific  of  incredible  hopes;  that  of  Boniface  was 
a  work  of  ardent  reparation,  in  which  the  flowers  of  hope 
had  faded.  The  former  acted  with  the  strength  of  a  vivi- 
fying thought;  the  latter  with  the  force  that  symbolized 
the  sword  of  justice. 

The  Guelph  was  the  Papal  party,  and  hence  no  one  must 
wonder  if  the  clergy  enrolled  themselves  in  it  with  such 
fervor.  Nay  more,  as  every  principle  which  a  body  of  men 
personifies  must  needs  strengthen  and  sustain  itself  on 
the  altar  of  martyrdom,  the  bitterness  and  honor  of  martyr- 
dom belonged  altogether  to  the  clergy,  especially  under 
Frederick  II.  But  being  as  they  were  men,  and  most  tena- 
cious of  the  idea  of  a  necessary  adhesion  of  the  Guelphs  to 
the  Church,  in  the  general  contamination  of  the  holy  idea, 
they  prevaricated  with  the  others,  and  the  clerical  dignity 
was  stained  with  civil  cruelties.  They  should  have  sur- 
rounded and  protected  the  Papacy  like  a  wall,  and  obedient 
ministers  to  its  commands  should  have  hastened  to  its  aid, 
and  by  sanctity  of  life  and  meekness  of  conduct  they  should 
have  calmed  the  angry  minds,  should  have  contained  them- 
selves in  victory,  and  should  have  elevated  themselves  to 
the  height  of  the  object  to  which  they  aspired.  But  un- 
fortunately they  were  more  Italian  than  clerics,  and  divis- 
ions arose  among  them.  Of  all  the  clergy  that  of  Rome  was 
the  most  bare-faced  in  this  fault,  and  the  most  injurious  to 
the  Guelphs  and  the  Papacy.  They  might  be  called  the  ec- 
clesiastical aristocracy,  on  account  of  their  immediate 
service  close  to  the  Papal  Chair.  But  what  contributed  to 
plunge  them  into  the  general  corruption  was  the  poison 
that  was  injected  into  them  by  the  corrupt  nobility  of  those 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  1Q5 

times,  to  whom  the  highest  ecclesiastical  preferments  had 
been  shamefully  enfeoffed.  It  appears  that  the  Orsinis,  the 
Colonnas,  and  the  Savellis  had  an  acquired  right  to  the 
dignities  and  the  highest  offices  in  the  Church,  and  for  that 
reason  many  cardinals  and  prelates  participated  in  the 
vices  of  those  families  which  composed  the  Roman  Patri- 
ciate. A  calamitous  patriciate  which  grafted  the  ferocity 
of  the  Barbarians  to  ancient  pride.  Like  a  parasite  plant, 
it  afflicted  the  Roman  See  by  robbing  the  people  of  the 
nourishment  of  civil  virtues,  and  by  depriving  the  prince 
of  the  sinews  of  government.  The  pontifical  tiara  with 
which,  so  to  speak,  their  families  in  succession  were  hon- 
ored, rendered  it  still  more  arrogant,  and  increased  the 
boldness  of  action.  The  frequent  vacancies  of  the  throne 
habituated  it  to  the  impieties  of  anarchy.  When  re- 
strained, it  grumbled,  when  unrestrained,  it  was  terrible. 
These  patrician  families  were  never  truly  either  Guelphs 
or  Ghibellines;  but  they  used  these  names  to  express  not 
the  nobility  of  a  principle,  but  the  feuds  of  their  vile  ambi- 
tion. Rivals  among  themselves,  they  attacked  one  another 
in  order  to  supplant  one  another  in  turn ;  and  the  prelates 
who  were  members  of  these  families  brought  into  the  papal 
court,  and  into  the  offices  they  held,  all  the  passions  of 
their  house,  and  deprived  the  Papacy  of  that  dignity  and 
power  which  it  needed  in  order  to  purify  Guelphism  of 
the  vices  which  were  corrupting  it. 

The  institution  of  the  Franciscan  and  Dominican  orders 
was  a  powerful  and  salutary  remedy  for  all  the  evils  en- 
gendered by  the  bad  citizens  and  clerics  in  the  heat  of 
those  party  strifes.  The  Friars  Minor  and  the  Preachers, 
inasmuch  as  they  were  not  contemplative  and  not  clois- 
tered, but  out  in  the  very  heart  of  cities  which  were  in  a 
ferment  of  domestic  broils,  were  tried  champions  of 
Guelphism.  To  both  clerics  and  people  they  seemed  mar- 
vellous, and  as  it  were,  heavenly  beings  by  reason  of  their 
poverty  of  life  and  austerity  of  manner,  and  so  they  could 
preach  to  both,  holiness  and  peace.  Oftentimes  when  the 
swords  were  raised  in  combat,  they  were  lowered  at  the 
appearance  of  a  friar;  and  those  feelings  of  hatred  and 
revenge,  which  the  influence  of  charity  and  reason  could 
not  stifle,  were  subdued  entirely  by  their  words.  They 
were  accessible  to  the  people  by  reason  of  their  poor  habit 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

and  food;  and  they  were  sought  after  by  the  nobles,  who 
in  the  weariness  of  their  sins,  by  relieving  their  poverty 
with  a  liberal  gift  of  alms,  they  wished  to  make  them  the 
mediators  of  their  eternal  salvation.  Many  famous  for 
misdeeds,  when  dying,  eagerly  longed  for  the  rough  habit 
of  the  Friars  Minor. 

The  Popes  found  in  these  religious  an  expedient  which 
the  secular  clergy  no  longer  offered.  Often  a  friar  was  a 
Papal  messenger  to  princes,  and  to  peoples;  they  were 
raised  to  the  episcopate,  and  to  the  honors  of  the  cardinal- 
ate.  Exempt  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  they  were  sub- 
ject only  to  the  Roman  See,  and  they  received  immediately 
from  it  the  faculty  to  preach  and  administer  the  sacra- 
ments. They  were  a  sacred  militia,  which  free  from 
worldly  cares,  numerous  and  strongly  united,  went  forth 
at  the  beck  of  the  Rome  Pontiff;  and  like  a  balm  spread 
itself  in  the  body  of  the  clergy  to  preserve  it  from  corrup- 
tion. But  alas!  this  remedy  became  such  as  to  lose  its 
power.  Their  contact  with  the  people  lessened  the  old 
reverence  the  latter  had  for  them;  the  laxity  of  some  of 
them  in  the  observance  of  their  austere  precepts,  and  their 
haughty  disobedience  to  the  Popes  fostered  schisms  among 
them;  and  the  privileges  accorded  them  aroused  the  jeal- 
ousies of  the  bishops.  The  heresy  of  the  Fraticelli  (the 
Little  Brothers),  the  result  of  a  disordered  zeal;  and  the 
bold  and  wild  theories  of  William  of  St.  Amour  embraced 
by  many,  wounded  grievously  the  Order  of  St.  Francis; 
and  it  never  regained  all  that  civil  mission  which  it  re- 
ceived from  the  Roman  See  at  its  institution. 

Wherefore  as  soon  as  Boniface  was  seated  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter,  he  found  things  in  desperate  straits.  He  must 
oppose  Ghibellinism  already  fallen  from  a  certain  nobility 
of  principle,  which  consisted  in  the  delusive  hope  of  reviv- 
ing the  Roman  Empire,  and  which  was  only  holding  on  to 
existence  from  the  result  of  that  principle,  namely  the 
unjust  exclusion  of  the  Papacy  from  the  bosom  of  civil 
society;  he  must  prop  up  Guelphism  and  purify  it,  and  he 
must  check  the  excesses  of  the  Roman  nobility.  And  it 
seems  to  us  that  the  three  enemies  that  he  encountered  in 
this  triple  undertaking  were  Philip  the  Fair,  Dante,  and 
the  Colonnas.  By  all  he  was  oppressed  but  not  conquered. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  1Q7 

Philip  the  Fair  smote  him  with  the  force  of  the  civil  law; 
the  Colonnas  with  the  law  of  the  Church ;  and  Dante  with 
that  of  opinion. — As  soon  as  the  coronation  was  finished 
and  the  first  months  of  his  pontificate  had  passed,  the  air 
of  the  city  grew  so  bad  in  the  beginning  of  summer  that 
Boniface  left  Rome  and  set  out  for  Anagni.  At  that  time 
the  Colonnas  had  no  doubt  of  his  legitimate  election  to  the 
Papacv ;  and  moreover  they  considered  themselves  his  most 
devoted  friends.  In  fact,  inasmuch  as  the  road  to  Anagni 
touched  the  territory  of  Zagarolo,  a  fief  of  the  Colonnas, 
these  princes  offered  the  Pope  hospitality  in  their  own 
house.  All  the  Colonnas  were  round  about  him  waiting 
on  him  with  all  attention  and  reverence,  and  so  affection- 
ately that  it  did  not  seem  that  they  were  entertaining  a 
Gaetani,  but  one  of  their  own  family.  Boniface,  as  we 
shall  see,  remembered  this  friendly  reception.1 

St.  Peter  Morrone  was  the  first  to  disturb  the  mind  of  the 
new  Pope.  Boniface  feared  nothing  from  him  personally; 
nor  did  he  think  that  the  fire  of  human  ambition  burned 
under  the  sackcloth  of  the  hermit,  who  so  willingly  had 
laid  aside  the  papal  crown.  But  his  sleep  was  disturbed 
by  the  machinations  of  those  who,  displeased  at  the  resig- 
nation of  the  Saint,  could  have  urged  him  to  reascend  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  using  the  same  line  of  arguments  which 
had  induced  him  to  resign.  In  a  hypercritical  manner 
they  could  present  themselves  to  Peter  and  declare  to  him 
that  his  resignation  was  null  and  void ;  and  for  that  reason 
Boniface  was  not  a  legitimate  Pope;  the  Church  of  God 
by  his  fault  was  not  united  in  a  holy  marriage  with  her 
legitimate  spouse,  but  chained  by  the  wiles  of  a  wicked 
lover;  and  it  is  certain  that  the  Hermit  not  from  a  spirit 
of  pride,  but  from  the  fear  of  losing  his  soul,  could  have 
been  induced  to  raise  his  weak  arms  to  reassume  the  re- 
linquished keys,  and  there  would  not  have  been  wanting 
those  who  would  have  aided  him  in  the  accomplishment 
of  this  undertaking.  Wherefore  Boniface  wished  to  have 
him  brought  to  himself  in  Rome,  or  to  some  other  part  of 
his  territory,  in  order  to  remove  him  from  the  evil  and 
malicious  machinations  of  his  monks,  and  of  the  people, 

1See  the  Bull:  "  Praet.  temporum."    Raynaldus  year  1297;  no  27. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

who  were  always  recounting  the  repeated  miracles  wrought 
by  Celestine.2 

Angelarius,  Abbot  of  Monte  Casino,  had  been  deputed 
by  Boniface  to  find  him,  and  bring  him  to  Rome.  But  in 
the  meanwhile  the  Saint  suddenly  disappeared.  He  went 
to  St.  Germanus,  and  for  the  night  he  was  hospitably  re- 
ceived in  the  abbatial  palace.  Here  he  revealed  to  a  cer- 
tain priest  the  reason  of  his  flight,  beseeching  him  to  keep 
it  secret,  and  from  the  same  he  procured  a  horse,  and  every 
assistance  whereby  he  could  arrive  secretly  at  his  cell  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  When  he  arrived  at  Sulmona  there  was 
a  great  festival,  and  the  people  met  him  and  welcomed 
him  as  a  wonder  worker.  He  desired  only  to  bury  himself 
again  in  his  cell  on  Mt.  Morrone.  But  Boniface,  as  soon 
as  he  learned  from  the  Abbot  of  Monte  Casino  of  Celes- 
tine's  escape,  became  greatly  apprehensive  of  the  danger 
of  a  schism,  which  the  aforesaid  rendered  probable,  and 
he  forthwith  dispatched  Theodoric  of  Orvieto,  his  Cham- 
berlain, to  Sulmona,  in  order  to  explore  the  neighborhood 
in  search  for  Celestine.  Theodoric  went  and  found  him 
in  his  cell  enjoying  a  holy  peace,  and  he  was  already  re- 
turning, when  other  messengers  from  the  Pope  came  has- 
tening with  other  instructions  relative  to  Celestine.  But 
it  was  too  late.  For  the  latter  for  the  second  time  had 
taken  flight.  After  wandering  for  two  months  he  finally 
arrived  in  Apulia,  where  in  a  wild  forest  he  rested  and 
hid  himself.  In  the  meanwhile  the  news  of  his  flight  was 
spreading,  and  the  people  were  on  the  alert  to  see  the  man 
remarkable  for  miracles,  and  for  his  renunciation  of  the 
Papacy;  and  in  every  place  through  which  the  fugitive 
passed,  the  cry  was  immediately  raised :  "  Here  is  the 
Saint,  here  is  Brother  Peter  Morrone."  Celestine  was  flee- 
ing not  through  fear  of  the  Pope,  who,  as  a  prudent  meas- 
ure, wished  to  keep  him  close  to  him,  but  because  longing 
for  solitude,  and  compelled  to  live  in  the  Papal  Court,  he 
was  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  his  abdication.  His  follow- 
ers had  chartered  a  vessel  for  him,  because  he  wished  to 
go  beyond  the  sea;  but  a  storm  of  long  duration  having 
prevented  his  departure,  he  was  finally  intercepted  a  few 

•James  Card,  of  St.  George.  In  the  poem  of  St.  Celestine.  Preface  of 
Bull,  page  440,  no  13. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

miles  from  Viesta,  and  was  retained  in  that  town  until  the 
wishes  of  Boniface  in  his  regard  could  be  learned. 

We  do  not  believe  that  they  waited  long  to  hear  them. 
Charles  of  Naples,  profoundly  inclined  before  the  power  of 
Boniface,  was  also  himself  by  means  of  his  ministers  on 
the  track  of  the  holy  hermit,  to  intercept  him.  The  mem- 
ory of  the  happy  times  of  Pope  Celestine  could  not  have 
been  embittered  in  him  by  a  sadder  duty.  William  Stend- 
ard,  the  constable  of  the  kingdom,  was  charged  to  conduct 
the  Saint  well  escorted  to  the  boundary  of  the  kingdom, 
and  he  consigned  him  to  the  Chamberlain  of  the  Pope,  who 
in  the  middle  of  June,  1296,  presented  him  to  Boniface  at 
that  time  residing  in  Anagni.3  The  latter  well  knew  the 
danger  that  beset  the  Church  by  leaving  Celestine  under 
the  influence  of  his  monks  and  of  a  people  captivated  with 
wonder  by  the  miracles  which  were  related  of  him.  In 
fact  they  had  already  urged  him  to  reascend  the  Papal 
Chair ; 4  which  design  obtained  the  support  of  many  who 
could  not  persuade  themselves  that  Boniface  was  the  true 
Pope,  holding  the  abdication  of  his  predecessor  as  invalid. 
However  Boniface  resolved  to  proceed  cautiously  in  the 
matter  of  the  treatment  of  a  saint,  as  it  was  easy  to  wound 
the  piety  of  the  people.  Whereupon  having  accorded  a 
kindly  welcome  to  Celestine,  and  having  given  him  a  room 
in  his  own  palace,  he  summoned  the  cardinals  in  consis- 
tory in  order  to  obtain  their  opinion  on  what  was  best  to 
be  done  in  the  matter.5  Some  thought  that  without  any 
danger,  the  Saint  could  be  allowed  to  go  free  to  his  cell 
on  Mt.  Morrone ;  others  advised,  that  he  should  be  guarded 
with  great  care,  in  order  that  his  simplicity  might  not  be 
abused  to  the  detriment  of  the  Church.  Boniface  adopted 
the  latter  proposal,  and  had  him  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of 
Fumone,  in  Campania,  where  to  satisfy  the  desire  of  the 
Saint,  he  ordered  a  cell  similar  to  the  one  on  Mt.  Morrone, 
to  be  constructed  for  his  habitation.6  Visits  to  the  recluse 
were  forbidden  to  every  one ;  two  monks  of  his  own  order, 
were  the  only  ones  exempted  from  this  mandate,  at  the  re- 

*Lelius  Marini.    Life  of  St.  Peter  Celestine.  apud  Boll,  chaps  X  and  XI. 

4  Ibid.  chap.  XI.  •  Petri  Alliaci.    Life  of  St.  Peter  Celestine. 

' "  Cellam  igitur  optanti,  in  castro  Fumonis  firmo  cellam,  qualem 
"  verosimiliter  Sanctus  ipse  designarat,  ad  formam  ejus,  quam  in  Murrone 
"habuerat,  fieri  jussit."  Ibid,  no  118. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

quest  of  Celestine.  It  is  related,  that  not  being  able  to 
bear  the  narrow  confinement  of  the  prison  they  soon 
began  to  grow  ill,  and  were  obliged  to  depart  while  others 
took  their  places  in  turns.  Peter  Alliacus  states  that 
Boniface  placed  a  guard  of  six  soldiers  about  Celestine, 
and  about  thirty  other  men  whom  he  calls  satellites.7 

Let  the  reader  now  imagine  how  the  imprisonment  of 
a  man  already  venerated  as  a  Saint  and  a  wonder-worker, 
was  discussed  by  the  people,  by  the  Celestine  monks,  and 
by  those  to  whom  the  elevation  of  Gaetani  was  displeasing, 
on  seeing  removed  from  their  influence  their  only  counter- 
poise to  the  power  of  Boniface.  The  narrowness  of  the 
cell  in  the  castle  of  Fumone,  and  the  austere  penances 
practiced  by  Celestine,  which  on  Mt.  Morrone  had  won  for 
him  the  name  and  veneration  of  a  saint,  now  in  the  castle 
of  Fumone  begot  for  Boniface  the  name  of  a  tyrant,  and 
for  Celestine  the  honors  of  martyrdom.  The  armed  men 
placed  on  guard  about  the  castle,  and  the  resolution  to 
allow  no  one  to  visit  the  prison  were  adjudged  acts  of  the 
most  cruel  jealousy  of  authority,  and  an  unnecessary  pre- 
caution for  the  quietude  of  the  Church.  To  the  people 
there  did  not  appear  any  danger  of  a  schism,  but  they  saw 
only  an  innocent  man  of  God  shut  up  in  the  famous  castle. 
Therefore  the  blackest  calumny  against  Boniface  was 
spread ;  and  woe  to  any  one  when  such  a  thing  is  founded 
on  a  real  or  apparent  violation  of  the  religious  convictions 
of  a  people,  and  such  a  people  as  was  that  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  blame  which  was  heaped  upon  the  head  of 
Boniface  became  something  supernatural,  a  power  in  the 
hands  of  his  enemies,  and  only  to  be  removed  by  the  later 
judgment  of  historians. 

Celestine  lived  nine  months  in  the  castle  of  Fumone. 
In  the  month  of  May  there  appeared  on  his  right  side  a 
virulent  tumor,  which  baffling  all  skill,  brought  on  death 
on  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  in  the  70th  year  of  his 
age.8  Boniface,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  his  death,  sent  im- 
mediately to  Fumone  Cardinal  Thomas  of  St.  Cecilia,  and 
his  Chamberlain,  who  had  the  obsequies  of  the  Saint  held 
in  the  church  of  St.  Anthony  of  Ferentino,  to  which  flocked 
a  great  number  of  the  clergy  and  prelates  of  the  province 

7  Peter  Alliacus.    Life  of  St.  Celestine,  c.  3,  n.  17  apud  Boll. 
•Lelii  Marini  sup.  Vit.  Celest.  cap.  11,  no.  121. 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  vin. 

of  Campania.  Besides  in  the  Vatican  Basilica  he  honored 
the  dead  man  with  solemn  obsequies.  The  body  of  the 
Saint  rested  in  the  church  of  St.  Anthony  until  the  year 
1327,  when  it  was  transferred  to  Aquila  and  buried  in  the 
church  of  Collemaggio. 

At  this  time  his  followers  gave  loose  rein  to  their  un- 
principled and  depraved  imaginations.  A  nail  having 
pierced  the  skull  of  the  Saint,  they  spread  the  report  that 
Boniface  had  shortened  his  life  by  ordering  a  nail  to  be 
driven  in  his  head.  The  nail  was  found  (who  had  found  it 
we  know  not) ;  and  blood  was  still  seen  on  the  point  of  it. 
They  inserted  it  into  the  little  hole,  and  as  it  fitted  wonder- 
fully, the  proof  was  established  that  this  had  been  the 
instrument  of  his  death.  From  that  time  this  nail  was 
preserved  as  a  relic;  and  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary  of 
Majella  they  depicted  in  a  certain  fresco  the  martyrdom 
of  St.  Peter  Celestine,  representing  a  nail  being  driven 
into  his  head  by  the  order  of  Boniface,  which  fact  they  de- 
clared by  an  inscription  at  the  bottom.  To  remove  all 
doubt  of  his  martyrdom  they  placed  palms  on  his  tomb, 
and  all  those  who  beheld  them  knew  from  those  symbols 
that  among  the  persecutors  of  the  Church  there  was  a 
Supreme  Pontiff,  Boniface  VIII. 

Boniface,  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  in  his  hands  the 
Church  government,  thought  of  securing  a  true  and  firm 
peace,  for  at  this  time  affairs  were  in  a  precarious  condi- 
tion on  account  of  the  state  of  feelings  among  the  princes, 
and  worse  things  were  threatened  for  the  future.  But 
peace  must  not  be  secured  with  injury  to  the  rights  of 
the  Church.  He  began  to  refresh  his  memory  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  rights,  which  he  as  head  of  the  Church  had 
over  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Charles  I  of  Anjou  had 
sworn  fealty  to  Clement  IV  and  to  John  XXI.  Charles 
the  Lame  had  renewed  to  Nicholas  IV  the  promises  which 
his  father  had  made,  and  in  a  solemn  act  declared  the 
homage  which  the  king  of  Sicily  was  bound  forever  to 
pay,  alleging  the  most  ample  promises  of  Charles  I.9 
Boniface  requested  Charles  II  to  renew  them,  renewing  at 
the  same  time  the  Bull  of  Nicholas  IV ; 10  and  he  confirmed 
the  right  by  deed,  absolving  Charles  from  every  censure 
he  may  have  incurred  by  not  having  paid  tribute  to  St. 

•Raynaldus,  year  1289.  "Raynaldus,  year  1295. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Peter.11  The  treaty  of  Tarascon  drawn  up  by  himself, 
when  he  went  as  legate  with  Gerard  of  Parrna  to  negotiate 
peace,  and  subscribed  to  at  Brignolle  the  19th  of  Febru- 
ary 1291,  became  worthless  by  the  death  of  Alphonsus  of 
Aragon,  who  died  suddenly,  on  the  19th  of  June  of  the 
same  year.  James  had  proceeded  swiftly  to  Spain,  and 
had  seized  the  crown  of  Aragon  in  the  city  of  Saragossa  in 
October ;  Frederick,  his  brother,  took  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Sicily,  as  his  vicar;  Philip  of  France  finding  in 
the  death  of  Alphonsus  a  just  reason  for  not  ratifying  the 
treaty,  pretended  to  invade  Aragon,  only  for  the  sake  of 
wresting  from  the  French  clergy  ten  years  of  tithes  ;12  the 
Sicilians  gladly  rallied  around  Frederick;  and  Nicholas 
IV,  the  Pope  at  that  time,  again  despaired  of  the  desired 
peace.  But  since  the  condition  of  James  on  the  throne 
of  Aragon  were  similar  to  those  of  Alphonsus,  namely, 
with  a  people  tired  of  bearing,  besides  the  weight  of  ponti- 
fical censures,  that  of  war;  with  an  exhausted  treasury, 
and  with  the  danger  of  losing  Aragon  to  preserve  Sicily, 
he  was  inclined  to  peace,  and  desired  to  renew  the  broken 
treaty.  In  fact  Pope  Celestine  now  hoped  to  obtain  the 
happiest  results  by  peace ;  he  proposed  another  treaty  simi- 
lar to  that  of  Tarascon,  but  none  was  concluded.13 

When  the  report  was  spread  that  Boniface  had  been 
raised  to  the  Papacy,  negotiations  were  quickly  renewed, 
and  the  ambassadors  of  France  and  Aragon  met  to  delib- 
erate again.14  In  the  meanwhile  Frederick  himself  made 
advances  to  Eome,  in  order  perhaps  to  discover  in  what 
way  the  wind  was  blowing  for  him.  He  sent  as  legates  to 
Boniface,  Manfred  Lancia  and  Roger  Geremia  who  were 
cordially  welcomed  and  given  the  most  flattering  promises. 
The  Pope's  hopes  for  peace  grew  stronger;  in  fact,  Fred- 
erick not  being  as  yet  a  king,  but  only  the  vicar  of  James, 
the  task  of  driving  him  out  of  Sicily  seemed  easy.  For 
that  reason  Boniface  and  Charles  II  undertook  to  coerce 
James,  thinking  that  having  forced  him  to  leave  Sicily, 
there  would  be  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  restoring  it  to  the 
subjection  of  the  Church ;  but  they  did  not  reflect  that  the 
Sicilian  people  also  had  a  will  in  the  matter,  which 

"Raynaldus,  year  1294,  epis.  118.  u  Raynaldus,  year  1291,  56. 

"Liming,  T.  2,  n.  63.— Raynaldus,  1294,  15. 
14Surita,  Annl.  Arag.  Lib.  V,  c  9. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

although  excluded  from  the  treaties  was  nevertheless 
powerful,  because  supported  by  force.  Therefore  the 
Papal  legate  urged  James  to  restore  Sicily  to  the  Church ; 
and  the  royal  representative  Bartholomew  of  Capua  urged 
on  Charles  of  Valois  to  war  against  Aragon,  that  he  might 
secure  the  Papal  privilege  which  gave  him  the  crown.  The 
discontent  among  his  people,  the  war  in  Sicily  and  the 
threats  of  the  French  prince  persuaded  him  to  negotiate 
peace.15 

He  summoned  a  parliament  of  barons;  he  declared  to 
them  how  the  papal  censures  annoyed  him;  that  he  de- 
sired peace,  and  to  confirm  it  he  was  willing  to  send 
legates  to  the  Pope.  Four  ambassadors  went  to  seek 
Boniface  at  Anagni.  In  full  consistory  they  stated  the 
reason  of  the  embassy,  and  such  was  the  kind  welcome  ex- 
tended to  them  that  it  was  clear  that  the  Pope  desired 
nothing  more  than  harmony  among  Christian  princes  after 
such  lasting  dissensions.  The  matters  to  be  treated  were 
presented.  Besides  the  Aragonese  there  were  assembled 
also  ambassadors  from  France,  the  Bishop  of  Orleans,  the 
abbot  of  St.  Ge'rmain  des  Pres,  Charles  of  Valois,  and  Bar- 
tholomew of  Capua  as  the  representative  of  Charles  II. 
Boniface  presided;  and  most  skilful  as  he  was  in  negotia- 
tions he  conducted  the  proceeding  so  well,  that  on  the  5th 
of  June  he  happily  disposed  the  minds  of  all  to  agree  to 
the  following  articles,  namely:  that  Charles  of  Naples 
should  give  his  daughter  Blanche  in  marriage  to  James, 
with  a  dowry  of  twenty-five  thousand  marks  in  silver ;  that 
James  should  restore  Sicily  to  him  and  as  much  as  he  had 
acquired  there  by  conquest;  the  reluctant  Sicilians  should 
be  coerced  by  force;  that  he  should  release  the  hostages, 
Robert,  Raymond,  and  John,  the  sons  of  Charles,  with  the 
other  nobles  and  the  knights  of  Provence;  that  he  should 
pardon  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Anjou;  that  Charles 
of  Valois  should  renounce  the  right  over  the  kingdoms  of 
Aragon  and  Valencia  and  over  the  province  of  Barcelona, 
which  he  had  acquired  by  Papal  investiture;  mutual  par- 
dons and  restoration  of  goods  and  property  were  to  be 
granted  to  all  those  who  had  followed  the  fortunes  of  the 
Aragonian  and  Angevine  parties;  the  Pope  himself  was 

"Giann.  Stor.  Civ.  T.  Ill,  p.  116. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIIL 

to  release  Aragon  from  all  censures,  and  bless  it  anew.16 
And  whereas  in  every  treaty  tlie  general  articles  to  which 
all  agree,  are  openly  declared,  the  particular  ones  however 
are  kept  secret,  and  are  reserved  to  be  arranged  privately, 
in  order  not  to  injure  the  main  issue,  in  this  treaty  some 
secret  articles  were  cared  for  by  Boniface.  Secretly  he 
appeased  the  mind  of  James,  by  promising  to  invest  him 
with  Sardinia  and  Corsica;  James  on  the  other  hand  ap- 
peased Philip  of  France  by  promising  him  naval  aid 
against  Edward  of  England.17  As  to  Charles,  the  better 
to  feel  sure  of  the  king  of  Aragon,  he  asked  his  daughter 
Yolanda  from  him  for  his  son  Robert,  promising  in  return 
to  pay  twenty-five  thousand  silver  marks,  which  sum  he 
did  not  possess,  but  which  Boniface  furnished  in  the  form 
of  a  loan ;  the  latter  was  obliged,  by  reason  of  this,  to  levy 
tithes  on  the  churches  of  Italy.18 

On  the  21st  of  June  Boniface  solemnly  ratified  the 
treaty,  which  he  declared  in  a  Bull,  to  which  seventeen 
cardinals  affixed  their  names  and  which  he  concluded  by 
affirming  that  James  was  invested  by  a  ring  with  the  king- 
dom of  Aragon  and  Valencia;  that  the  Cardinal  of  St. 
Clement  was  designated  to  go  as  legate  to  the  countries 
beyond  the  mountains  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty.19 
Peace  was  proclaimed  on  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
the  Pope  having  granted  the  dispensation  of  consanguin- 
ity existing  between  James  and  Blanche,  the  daughter  of 
Charles,  so  that  a  marriage  might  confirm  the  peace;  and 
punishment  was  threatened  against  the  violators  of  the 
peace.  On  the  27th  of  the  same  month,  Boniface  com- 
municated the  same  to  Frederick  in  Sicily.20 

To  draw  up  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  to  dispose  the  minds 
to  agree  to  the  proposed  conditions,  is  not  always  difficult ; 
but  the  fulfilment  of  an  agreement  has  always  been  a  most 
difficult  task.  To  provide  for  this  Boniface  deputed 
William  Ferrer,  Cardinal  of  the  title  of  St.  Clement,  who 
before  the  21st  of  June  set  out  from  Anagni,  where  the 
Pope  was  then  residing,  for  Catalonia,  bringing  with  him 

"Mariana.  De  Reb.  Hisp.  lib.  14,  c.  17 — Epis.  Bonif.  lib.  1,  epist  184 
apud  Raynaldum.  "  Surita  Annal  d'Arag.  lib.  5,  c.  10. 

"  Rayn.  1295,  24.  "  Raynaldus,  year  1293,  lib.  I,  184,  n.  2. 

»°Raynaldus,  1295,  lib.  Epist.  99, 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  H5 

Blanche,  the  affianced  of  James.21  Boniface  gave  his 
legate  all  manner  of  instructions,  and  did  not  leave  him 
an  instant,  being  always  at  his  side  with  letters.  It  was 
the  constant  custom  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  never  to  with- 
draw themselves  from  the  immediate  direction  of  affairs; 
for  which  reason  they  have  left  us  those  stupendous  monu- 
ments of  their  wisdom  and  integrity  of  purpose,  in  the 
Registers,  which  if  fortunately  they  were  published  in 
one  complete  collection,  far  from  obscuring  the  brilliant 
idea  of  the  Roman  pontificate,  they  would  on  the  contrary 
render  it  more  luminous,  and  more  worthy  of  reverence 
even  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  revile  it.  Therefore  hardly 
was  the  legate  gone,  than  Boniface  was  following  him  with 
letters  which  bear  witness  of  his  prudence  and  discretion. 
He  foresaw  the  many  obstacles  that  the  princes  would 
place  in  the  way  to  an  agreement  of  the  articles  of  the 
treaty,  some  of  which  it  had  been  impossible  to  remove  by 
word  of  mouth  to  Cardinal  William,  and  so  on  the  30th 
of  June  he  wrote  him  from  Anagni  a  letter,  in  which 
among  other  things  were  read :  "  That  if  the  explanation 
"  of  that  treaty  became  involved  with  some  other  things, 
"  and  place  the  mind  in  a  state  of  uncertainty,  he  should 
li  fix  his  eyes  on  the  crucifix,  and  conform  his  conscience  to 
"  it ;  that  whenever  anything  arose  unforeseen  by  him,  he 
"  should  behave  in  such  a  concilatory  and  humane  man- 
"  ner,  that  tempering  severity  with  mildness,  the  minds  of 
"all  might  be  won  over  to  justice  by  the  sweetest  ways." 
The  Legate,  being  sent  on  his  good  way,  was  not  left 
alone,  but  was  followed  by  the  most  fervent .  desires  of 
peace,  and  directions  for  difficulties  which  could  not  be 
solved  in  drawing  up  the  treaty,  since  the  Legates  declared 
that  they  did  not  have  the  power  of  deciding  for  their 
lords.  One  of  these  difficulties  was  the  possession  of  the 
valley  of  Arany  which  formerly  was  held  by  the  prince  of 
Aragon,  but  now  was  in  the  possession  of  the  King  of 
France,  who  did  not  wish  to  see  it  included  among  those 
states,  the  right  over  which  had  been  reacquired  by  King 
James.  The  other  was  the  possession  of  the  islands  of 
Majorca  and  Minorca,  which  James  would  not  restore  to 
his  uncle,  also  called  James,  who  in  the  war  between  Valois 
and  Aragon  had  been  despoiled  of  them  by  the  Aragonians, 

u  Epistolae,  Bonifac.  ad  Fredericum  apud.  Rayn.,  34. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

because  he  followed  the  French  party.  Boniface,  to  whom 
the  attainment  of  peace  was  uppermost  in  mind,  earnestly 
strove  to  persuade  Philip  of  France 22  from  stirring  up  the 
minds  again  over  the  question  of  that  valley  of  Arany; 
that  he  would  leave  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  Legate,  until 
it  was  ascertained  at  what  time  it  had  come  under  his 
authority,  whether  before  or  during  the  war  between 
France  and  Aragon;  if  before  he  should  retain  it;  if  in 
time  of  the  war  he  should  restore  it,  as  subject  to  the 
avowed  agreements  to  restore  everything  taken  from 
James.  The  King  of  Aragon  was  urged  to  surrender  the 
islands  of  Majorca  and  Minorca  on  certain  conditions,  the 
arbiter  of  which  must  be  the  Legate.  Matters  went  ac- 
cording to  the  mind  of  Boniface,  and  peace  was  estab- 
lished. 

It  did  not  seem  impossible  to  bind  France  and  Aragon 
to  the  peace,  both  because  of  the  weakness  of  James  in 
the  face  of  a  multitude  of  enemies,  and  because  of  the  de- 
sire of  Charles  the  Lame,  a  Frenchman,  to  recover  the  fair 
province  of  Sicily.  But  the  great  difficulty  was  to  per- 
suade Frederick  to  surrender  to  another  the  authority  over 
Sicily,  which  he  was  already  ruling  as  the  vicar  of  his 
brother  James.  This  difficulty  was  increased  a  hundred- 
fold on  account  of  the  intense  hatred  of  the  Sicilians  for 
the  French,  whose  blood  shed  in  the  unhappy  Vespers  was 
still  warm;  and  the  feelings  of  a  people  emboldened  by  a 
recent  victory  are  not  easily  controlled  by  any  one.  As  the 
report  of  the  treaty  had  spread,  Frederick,  aroused  by  the 
chagrin  of  losing  Sicily  and  urged  on  by  the  Sicilians,  had 
already  begun  to  protest  against  the  treaty.23  However 
Boniface  did  not  despair  of  bringing  his  designs  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue,  although  it  would  be  a  desperate  w^ork  to 
reconcile  the  interests  of  the  Church  in  Sicily  with  the 
contentment  of  the  Sicilians.  He  must  speak  kindly  to  the 
legates  of  Frederick  whom  he  should  welcome  heartily; 
afterwards  he  should  win  over  by  the  softest  persuasion 
Frederick  himself,  John  of  Procida,  and  Roger  of  Loria, 
the  supreme  directors  of  the  sentiments  of  the  Sicilians, 
the  one  the  leader  of  civil,  the  other  of  military  affairs, 
and  with  what  result  every  one  knows.  And  whereas  it 

•Raynaldus  26.    Epist.  208. 

MEpist.  Bonif.  ad  Fred,  in  Chron.  Anony.  Sicu.  cap.  53. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

would  be  a  loss  of  time  and  labor  to  express  in  a  letter  the 
arguments  of  persuasion,  he  considered  it  better  to  invite 
the  aforesaid  to  a  friendly  interview.  He  dispatched 
Bernard  of  Camerino,  his  chaplain,  who  brought  the  most 
affectionate  letter  to  Frederick,24  such  as  a  father  would 
write  to  his  son,  enlarging  on  the  compassion  of  Mother 
Church,  and  how  she  is  ever  inclined  to  welcome  to  her 
bosom,  whoever  having  strayed  away  will  return  to  her 
in  the  sincerity  of  his  soul.  The  Pope  affixed  to  the  letters 
a  safe-conduct  for  Frederick  and  the  others  invited  to  the 
interview.  As  soon  as  Frederick  had  received  the  Papal 
Legate  and  had  read  the  letter,  although  he  knew  the 
object  of  the  desired  interview  was  his  departure  from 
Sicily,  he  yielded  to  the  exhortation  of  Boniface,  by  ob- 
serving how  the  other  affairs  of  James  included  in  the 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  so  adjusted  by  Boniface  that  they 
would  not  suffer  damage  or  injury;  and  he  did  not  doubt 
that  urged  to  leave  Sicily,  he  would  be  recompensed  by 
the  gift  of  another  seigniory.  However,  he  wished  to 
know  the  sentiments  of  the  Sicilians  concerning  his 
journey  to  the  Pope,  and  he  addressed  to  the  University 
of  Palermo  a  letter,  to  which  he  attached  a  copy  of  the 
letter  of  Boniface  to  him.  The  people  of  Palermo  an- 
swered the  letter  of  Frederick  by  another,  the  bearers  of 
which  were  Nicholas  of  Mayda,  Philip  of  Carastono, 
judges,  and  Peter  Philosopher,  which  ambassadors  of  the 
commune  should  add  strength  to  the  letter.  In  this  letter 
there  were  most  fiery  words  to  deter  Frederick  from  going 
to  the  Papal  interview :  "  He  should  remember,"  they  said, 
"  the  bad  feeling  borne  towards  his  ancestor  Peter  by  the 
"  Roman  Pontiffs,  and  with  what  fury  they  had  carried 
"  on  war  against  themselves,  for  no  other  reason  than  to 
"  thrust  the  sword  into  his  vitals  for  his  final  ruin ;  he 
"  should  remember  how  much  human  blood  they  had  shed 
"  in  Catalonia  taking  sides  with  Philip  of  France,  unmind- 
"  ful  of  the  charity  of  the  Founder  of  the  Church,  who 

"  desired  neither   bloodshed   nor   war Con- 

"  sidering  then  the  manly  constancy  with  which  his  father 
"  Peter  and  his  brother  James  maintained  possession  of 
"  the  island,  they  wondered  how  he,  as  it  were,  degener- 
"  ating  from  his  elders,  would  desist  from  his  generous 

**Chron.  Sic.  Anony.  cap.  53. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  purpose  of  protecting  unfortunate  Sicily ;  how  he  would 
"depress  on  a  sudden  their  raised  spirits,  and  how  he 
tl  would  go  to  repose  in  the  arms  of  the  Pope  in  an  artful 
"  interview.  He  should  not  be  frightened  by  the  noise  of 
"  those  words  which  the  shrewd  Pope  threw  out  to  him,  in 
"  order  to  deprive  him  of  courage  for  his  noble  designs. 
"  The  work  he  had  undertaken,  which  his  elders  had 
"  happily  effected,  would  not  displease  God  but  be  grate- 
"  ful  to  him ;  that  it  was  the  hand  of  God  which  up  to  that 
"  day  had  fought  for  Sicily,  battling  against  an  immense 
"  multitude  of  proud  enemies ;  that  it  was  the  valor  of 
"  God  by  which  one  against  a  thousand  fought  victoriously. 
"  Not  to  fight  against,  but  for  God,  who  take  arms  for 
"  his  own  prince  and  for  the  people  who  have  entrusted  to 
"  the  hands  of  this  prince  their  every  hope  and  dearest 
"  destiny.  Therefore  prostrate  at  his  feet  they  besought 
"  him  not  to  go  with  the  chief  men  of  the  island  to  that 
"  sinister  interview,  which  would  be  productive  of  sad 
"  consequences  both  to  him  and  to  them ;  finally  that  he 
"  should  think  of  taking  in  his  own  hands  the  government 
"  and  protection  of  Sicily,  and  they  would  be  most  ready 
"  to  sacrifice  for  him  their  lives  and  goods." 

This  persistent  opposition  went  to  the  heart  of  Fred- 
erick, who,  born  a  king,  more  than  others  felt  the  sweetness 
of  command,  and  the  fear  of  the  loss  of  it;  yet  at  the 
authoritative  voice  of  the  Pontiff  he  decided  to  go.  And 
having  taken  with  him  as  companions  John  of  Procida  and 
Roger  of  Loria,  he  sailed  with  a  good  fleet  for  Terracina, 
where  he  disembarked;  and  with  a  noble  retinue  he  rode 
as  far  as  Velletri.  Boniface  was  awaiting  his  arrival  in 
the  open  country,  and  as  soon  as  he  saw  himself  in  the 
presence  of  Frederick,  a  boy  of  tender  years,  altogether 
encased  in  a  heavy  armor,  he  caressed  him  with  both  hands, 
and  kissed  him  on  the  brow;  then  in  wonder  he  said  to 
him :  "  So  soon,  O  noble  youth,  are  you  accustomed  to 
arms?" — And  fixing  his  gaze  on  the  terrible  Roger  of 
Loria :  "  Are  you  that  terrible  enemy  of  the  Church,  who 
has  massacred  so  many  people?  "  And  he  quickly  replied : 
"  Your  predecessors  were  the  cause."  25 — Then  he  took  the 
young  prince  aside,  and  in  the  kindest  of  manners  he  tried 
to  persuade  him  to  leave  Sicily;  and  to  compensate  him 

15  Franc.  Maurolyci.     Sicancicae  Hist.  1,  4,  apud  Burmani. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  H9 

for  the  loss  he  proposed  a  marriage  for  him  with  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Philip,  and  niece  of  Baldwin  II,  titular  Em- 
peror of  Constantinople,  and  also  niece  of  Charles  the 
Lame,  which  marriage  would  obtain  for  him  the  right  to 
ascend  the  throne  of  the  Grecian  Empire;  he  promised 
besides  to  furnish  him  with  abundant  means  to  carry  on 
the  war  against  Paleologus  who  had  taken  it  from  Philip. 
The  youthful  prince  apart  from  Roger  and  John  of  Pro- 
cida  replied  that  he  would  consent  to  the  nuptials,  if  the 
Sicilians  would  also  consent;28  and  with  this  he  parted 
with  the  Pontiff. 

The  intention  of  Boniface  in  this  matter  was  not  to 
beguile  the  youth ;  because  as  Pope  he  could  not  bear  with- 
out sorrow  that  the  Sicilians  unmindful  of  the  dominion 
of  the  Church  over  their  islands  should  transfer  it  to  Fred- 
erick ;  and  from  the  marriage,  which  he  encouraged  Freder- 
ick to  contract,  there  was  no  little  benefit  to  be  derived  for 
the  Church.  The  reunion  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches, 
the  conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  foremost  desires  of  the 
Roman  Pontificate,  would  have  a  firm  basis  in  a  Catholic 
prince  seated  on  the  throne  of  Constantinople.  Hence  in 
the  month  of  June  of  this  year  he  sent  John,  Abbot  of 
St.  Germain  des  Pr6s  to  Catherine  with  letters  expressing 
to  her,  how  for  her  own  good,  and  that  of  the  Church,  she 
should  select  as  husband  Frederick  of  Aragon ;  and  how  it 
should  be  sworn  to  by  the  latter  and  her  grandfather 
Charles  II,  to  conclude  the  affair  by  the  end  of  September; 
that  John  the  Abbot  would  come  to  conduct  her  to  him 
honorably,  and  at  her  earliest  convenience.27  Moreover  he 
addressed  letters  likewise  to  Philip  of  France,  admonish- 
ing him  to  exert  himself  to  induce  Catherine  to  consent 
to  this  marriage.  But  the  expulsion  of  Andronicus  from 
the  throne  of  Bysantium  was  a  difficult  undertaking  and 
not  near  at  hand,  and  he  could  not  easily  obtain  the  con- 
sent of  Catherine  to  a  marriage  of  such  little  benefit.  She 
replied,  that  the  noble  blood  of  Frederick  was  pleasing  to 
her,  but  she  did  not  care  to  marry  a  prince  without  a  state. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  without  a 
ruler.  Charles  was  still  in  France  for  the  conclusion  of 
the  aforesaid  peace,  and  Charles  his  eldest  son,  titular 
king  of  Hungary,  had  died  in  the  June  of  this  year.  Boni- 

"Mauroly.  Sic.  Hist.  lib.  IV,  199.    "Epist.  174  an.  1.  apud  Rayn.  29, 


120  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

face  quickly  provided  for  the  administration  of  the  king- 
dom as  an  affair  of  the  Pontiffs,  entrusting  it  to  Philip, 
duke  of  Taranto,  another  son  of  Charles,  and  Landolph, 
Cardinal-Deacon  of  St.  Angelo.  But  the  Neapolitans  felt 
aggrieved  because  Queen  Margaret  had  been  excluded  from 
the  management  of  the  public  affairs,  and  thy  besought 
the  Pontiff  to  place  them  under  her  direction.  Boniface 
yielded  to  these  desires,  glad  to  show  the  supreme  do- 
minion he  had  over  the  kingdom,  being  able  to  change 
rulers  at  his  own  will,  and  in  a  most  affable  letter  he 
appointed  Margaret  to  fill  the  place  of  her  absent  husband. 
In  that  letter,  having  deplored  the  death  of  her  son  Charles, 
and  having  told  how,  by  that  supreme  power  which  came 
to  him  from  on  high,  he  had  entrusted  to  Philip  and  the 
Legate  the  direction  of  affairs,  he  substituted  her  in  their 
place,  prohibiting  her  from  alienating  any  immoveable 
property  of  the  state,  to  which  prohibition  he  did  not 
doubt,  that  also  her  husband  Charles  would  conform  with 
good  graces  himself;  and  finally  he  was  sure  that  she 
would  rule  the  kingdom  with  such  prudence  and  strength 
of  mind  as  to  merit  afterwards  the  reward  of  Heaven  and 
praise  of  men.  Here  then  is  an  instance  of  how  that 
dominion  of  Kome  over  a  state  bridled  the  excesses  of 
princes  and  secured  the  rights  of  the  people.  And  no  one 
better  than  Boniface  could  have  exercised  this  salutary 
dominion,  if  his  disposition  of  mind  had  not  been  deemed 
excessive  pride  in  those  stormy  times. 

Although  the  affairs  of  Sicily  had  occupied  much  of  the 
Pontiff's  attention  yet  they  did  not  possess  it  so  entirely, 
as  to  prevent  him  from  directing  the  whole  world  towards 
the  attainment  of  his  great  desire  of  universal  peace. 
Whilst  he  was  still  hoping  to  pacify  Sicily,  before  Fred- 
erick would  make  himself  king,  he  turned  his  attention 
to  northern  Italy,  where  affairs  were  in  a  much  disturbed 
condition  owing  to  the  brutal  fury  of  the  Guelph  and 
Ghibelline  factions;  the  nobles  and  the  populace,  state 
against  state,  city  against  city  were  rending  themselves 
in  fierce  wars.  But  in  a  particular  manner  he  exercised 
his  care  over  the  most  powerful  cities,  with  the  hope  that 
peace  once  established  they  would  by  reason  of  their 
wealth  and  grandeur  be  able  to  show,  in  the  peaceful  and 
good  government  of  their  republics,  an  example  of  civi- 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

lization  to  the  hundred  desolate  and  warring  cities  of  the 
peninsula.  These  were  Venice  and  Genoa.  The  former 
was  already  powerful  in  the  Xlllth  century  by  reason  of 
the  riches  which  accrued  to  it  from  its  maritime  commerce, 
also  by  reason  of  the  fortunate  conquests  in  Dalmatia,  of 
many  islands  in  the  Adriatic,  and  of  the  Grecian  Archi- 
pelago, and  more  especially  by  reason  of  the  internal  con- 
stitution, which  precisely  in  this  age  took  the  firm  abiding 
form  of  that  Queen  of  the  Seas.  The  other  rich  also  like 
Venice  by  reason  of  commerce,  but  less  powerful  since  the 
conquests  had  been  made  by  her  private  citizens,  and  by 
them  retained,  rather  than  by  the  city;  and  besides  its 
government  was  not  so  strongly  constituted  as  to  permit 
it  to  hold  in  duty,  both  the  populace  and  the  nobles. 
Hence  while  Venice  like  an  immovable  rock  in  the  sea 
opposed  its  exterior  sides  to  the  fury  of  factions,  Genoa 
was  ever  agitated  by  internal  strifes.  Venice  was  always 
free,  Genoa  was  often  the  slave  of  foreigners. 

Through  jealousy  of  trade  Genoa  at  first  vented  its 
hatred  against  Pisa,  and  afterwards  against  Venice.  This 
was  always  displeasing  to  the  Popes,  who  desired  to  make 
use  of  these  powerful  republics  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
infidels  in  the  East.  Almost  two  years  had  passed  during 
which  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  were  furiously  waging 
war  against  each  other,  when  Boniface  endeavored  to 
soften  their  anger  and  reconcile  the  adversaries.  More- 
over he  wished  for  peace  in  order  to  redeem  the  fallen  for- 
tunes of  the  Holy  Land.  But  the  desperate  straits  of  the 
latter  were  well  known  to  Boniface,  and  his  apparent  de- 
sire concealed  his  real  desire,  which  was  to  divert  the 
minds  from  intestine  feuds  and  turn  them  in  view  of  the 
common  good,  to  the  destruction  of  the  Turkish  power. 
He  admonished  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  by  letter  28  to 
suspend  hostilities  until  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist 
of  the  current  year,  during  which  time  the  ambassadors 
of  both  republics  would  meet  in  his  presence  to  agree  on 
a  lasting  peace.  The  legates  assembled;  but  the  Genoese 
came  in  bad  faith.  For  while  they  rejected  every  pro- 
posed measure  of  agreement,  justifying  themselves  under 
the  plea  that  from  their  state  they  had  not  received  the 
right  to  negotiate,  in  Genoa  they  were  preparing  a  mighty 

*Lib.  I  an  1  Epist.  117  apud  Raynaldum. 


122  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

fleet  to  assail  the  Venetians  while  engaged  in  the  treaty  of 
peace.  The  Pope,  not  wishing  that  the  docility  of  the 
Venetians  to  his  paternal  instructions  be  detrimental  to 
their  republic,  released  them  from  the  obligation  of  main- 
taining the  truce,  which  the  Genoese  faithlessly  observed,29 
and  encouraged  them  to  defend  themselves.  But  that 
which  the  Venetians  could  have  done  against  the  Genoese 
was  done  by  cruel  discord.  For  in  that  very  fleet  there  was 
kindled  the  fire  of  the  factions,  the  leaders  of  the  Guelph 
being  the  Grimaldi,  and  of  the  Ghibelline  the  Dorias  and 
the  Spinolas.  They  turned  their  swords  against  each  other 
and  many  fell  in  the  strife,  and  returning  to  Genoa  they 
did  not  desist  from  blood  and  fire,  until  the  Guelphs  over- 
come by  the  Ghibellines  were  driven  into  exile.  It  was 
from  this  time  according  to  Villani,  that  the  decline  of 
the  Genoese  republic  began,  as  if  in  punishment  for  that 
fratricidal  madness  and  for  their  contempt  of  the  paternal 
authority  of  Boniface. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  book  we  discussed  the  subject 
of  Guelphism  and  Ghibellinism,  and  why  and  how  the 
Popes  held  themselves  as  the  chiefs  of  the  Guelph  party; 
and  we  believe  no  Pope  exerted  himself  so  strongly  to 
defend  it  and  to  combat  the  opposite  party,  as  Boniface. 
Before  he  was  Pope  he  was  a  Ghibelline,  because  his  family 
followed  that  party,30  and  when  he  became  Cardinal  he 
did  not  renounce  being  Ghibelline  both  because  of  family 
affection,  and  because  of  the  great  contempt  he  had  for  the 
Angevines.  When  he  became  Pope,  he  transformed  him- 
self into  a  Guelph  by  reason  of  the  office  which  he  held. 
The  city  in  which  above  others  the  fierce  and  rabid  spirit 
of  these  factions  was  displayed  was  Florence ;  and  for  that 
reason  from  the  triumph,  or  discomfiture  of  one  of  these 
in  Florence,  the  civil  changes  in  many  other  Italian  cities 
proceeded.  In  the  thirteenth  century  this  city  advanced 
much  in  richness,  in  splendor  of  buildings,  and  in  number 
of  people;  but  precisely  in  this  same  thirteenth  century 
(1215)  the  cursed  feuds  began  among  the  citizens,  who 
divided  themselves  into  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  on  occa- 
sion of  the  murder  of  Buondelmonte ;  and  in  1250  the  office 
of  first  captain  of  the  people  was  created  with  twelve 

"Epist.  13  apud  Raynaldum  38. 

80  Villani di  sua  Nazione  Ghibellina. 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  vni.  123 

elders,  so  much  did  the  power  to  rule  increase  during  the 
wars  against  Pisa,  Siena,  and  other  powerful  cities.  The 
Florentines  were  Guelphs  by  nature,  and  seeing  their 
country  prosper  under  republican  institutions,  they  had 
no  love  for  the  Ghibellines  who  desired  a  foreign  emperor 
as  chief.  Yet  for  all  that,  dissensions  existed  among  them, 
owing  to  the  enmities  of  the  Uberti  with  the  Amodei,  so 
that  the  Ghibellines  having  triumphed  over  the  Guelphs 
who  at  Montaperto,  had  formed  the  project,  happily  de- 
feated by  Farinato  Uberti,  to  destroy  Florence,  as  the  only 
possible  way  of  making  it  Ghibelline.  Just  as  this  tran- 
sient triumph  was  obtained  through  the  aid  of  Manfred, 
so  through  Charles  of  Anjou,  the  Guelphs  not  only  re- 
ceived life,  but  firmly  established  themselves  in  Florence 
and  secured  the  entire  government  of  the  city;  and  under 
the  Guelphs  the  government  exercised  by  the  Priori  of 
arts,  became  entirely  democratic  (1285).  The  victories 
gained  by  the  Florentines  over  Pisa  and  Arezzo,  Ghibel- 
line cities,  the  internal  prosperity  of  the  city  in  commerce 
and  in  the  arts,  should  have  induced  the  Florentines  to 
aim  at  the  most  holy  object,  which  the  mind  of  the  Koman 
Pontificate  contemplated  for  Italy.  They  had  always 
found  the  Pontiffs  favorable  in  their  defence  of  Guelphism, 
but  always  opposed  when  under  the  pretext  of  party 
opinion,  the  citizens  measured  swords  with  one  another, 
and  internal  dissensions  were  enkindled.  The  Popes, 
always  Guelphs  in  their  relations  with  Florence,  were 
peacemakers  always  whenever  they  did  not  fight  for  prin- 
ciple, but  for  individuals.  In  fact  in  the  year  1273,  the 
Ghibellines  reentered  Florence  only  through  a  peaceful 
agreement  effected  by  Gregory  X.  This  Pope,  and  others 
with  him,  looked  for  peace  and  justice  in  Guelphism, 
solely  because  they  could  obtain  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  in  Italy  whilst  the  Ghibellines  ruled.  Florence  did 
not  lend  itself  to  this  most  honorable  design  and  far  from 
profiting  by  the  power  which  came  to  her  by  her  victories, 
she  turned  it  to  her  detriment.  The  nobles  and  the  people 
began  to  quarrel,  and  each  party  enrolled  itself  under  the 
Guelph  or  Ghibelline  standard.  In  1294  after  the  expul- 
sion of  the  daring  Giano  della  Bella  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  citizen  party,  a  very  great  evil  threatened  Florence, 
and  perhaps  all  Tuscany,  namely  the  arrival  of  foreigners 


124:  HlfeTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

who  would  have  nourished  the  furious  dissensions,  weak- 
ened the  parties,  and  obtained  dominion  over  those  Italian 
peoples.  Things  were  in  such  disorder,  that  the  nobles,  in 
order  to  regulate  the  public  affairs,  summoned  John  Da 
Caviglione,  of  the  house  of  Burgundy,  to  make  him  the 
governor  of  their  city.  He  came  with  well-nigh  five  hun- 
dred Burgundian  and  German  knights,  not  only  to  assume 
the  office  of  governor,  but  also  that  of  imperial  Vicar  of 
all  Tuscany,  which  he  had  received  from  Albert,  Duke  of 
Austria.31  This  Vicarship  was  displeasing  to  the  Floren- 
tine nobles,  for  having  made  use  of  him  and  his  people  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  partisans  of  Giano  della  Bella,  they 
did  not  wish  to  be  burdened  further  with  him  as  their  chief 
magistrate,  and  refused  to  pay  the  salaries  of  his  five  hun- 
dred knights.  The  foreigner  became  angry,  and  having  set 
out  for  Arezzo,  he  induced  that  city  to  take  arms  with 
him  against  Florence,  the  Guelph.  This  foreign  scourge 
could  render  incurable  the  domestic  wounds;  and  this  was 
the  moment  when  the  authority  of  the  Pontiff  was  needed. 
Boniface  met  the  danger  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  the 
Florentines,  who  feared  not  only  the  people  of  Arezzo 
aided  by  Caviglione,  but  more  especially  these  formidable 
words  of  right  and  Empire.  The  Pope  induced  the  Floren- 
tines to  pay  twenty  thousand  florins  to  the  Burgundian, 
who  then  departed  peacefully,  and  thereby  delivered  Tus- 
cany from  grave  dangers.32 

The  care  displayed  by  Boniface  in  quelling  the  dissen- 
sions and  restoring  peace  in  other  states  was  not  less 
ardent  in  the  states  of  the  Church,  which  were  horribly 
convulsed,  by  reason  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  fac- 
tions. It  is  well  known  how  fiercely  were  rent  the  cities 
in  the  Komagna,  Umbria,  and  the  Marches,  when  the  other 
cities  of  Italy  became  republics.  Although  these  prov- 
inces, after  the  famous  battles  of  the  Papacy  with  the 
house  of  Hohenstaufen,  had  remained  subject  to  the 
Church,  yet  there  was  manifested  in  them  a  vice  which 
was  consuming  a  vast  part  of  Italy,  we  mean  the  want  of 
a  bond  which  united  the  dominant  to  the  subdued  parties. 
Cardinal  legates  went  to  preside  over  these  provinces,  but 
this  was  the  appearance,  not  the  reality  and  power  of 
government.  The  cities  were  governed  in  common,  and 

"Villani  C.  X.  S.  R.  J.  32Dino  Com.  S.  R.  T.  V.  9.479.  D.  E. 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  125 

the  authority  entrusted  now  to  the  people,  now  to  the 
nobles  tended  toward  ruin;  because  it  was  not  sanctified 
by  right;  and  abominable,  because  it  was  always  dishon- 
ored by  the  blood  of  the  citizens.  In  these  furious  brawls 
the  Ghibelline  Lambertazzi  and  the  Guelph  Geremei  were 
engaged  a  long  while  in  Bologna ;  the  Polenti  and  the  lords 
of  Bagnacavallo  in  Ravenna;  the  Mendoli  and  the  Brizi 
in  Imola;  the  Manfreds  and  the  Accarisi  in  Faenza;  the 
Ciambacari  and  the  Amodei  in  Rimini;  the  Galbolia  and 
the  Ordelaffi  in  Forli;  the  Righizzi  and  the  people  in 
Cesena.  The  Ghibellines  tended  to  a  monarchy  or  aristo- 
cratic constitution,  and  for  that  reason  were  easily  sub- 
servient to  the  Empire;  whereas  the  Guelphs,  democratic 
in  principles,  found  odious  the  restraint  of  the  Empire, 
and  accordingly  they  were  more  attached  to  the  Church. 
The  people  being  so  divided  the  Pope  had  no  control  of 
them.  At  one  time  he  was  called  upon  to  sit  as  arbiter  to 
confirm  the  authority  of  one  of  the  factions;  at  another 
time  to  solicit  aid  both  of  money  and  men  for  the  Guelph 
party,  not  by  reason  of  command,  but  by  the  will  of  the 
men  who  revered  him  as  the  head  of  the  party,  and  not  as 
the  lord  of  the  state.  See  to  what  narrow  limits  the  Papal 
jurisdiction  had  been  reduced  in  those  cities.  This  had 
been  further  curtailed  by  the  Counts  of  Romagna,  the 
representatives  of  the  imperial  right.  At  the  Council  of 
Lyons  Gregory  X  took  pains  to  declare  and  confirm  the 
rights  of  the  Church  in  relation  to  the  Empire,  and  to 
determine  the  limits  of  the  temporal  sovereignty  of  the 
Popes,  which  had  been  overthrown  and  rendered  almost 
invisible  by  the  reasons  just  given.  In  that  universal 
assembly  Radicofani  and  Ceprano  were  acknowledged  the 
extreme  limits  of  the  Pontifical  States,  and  these  com- 
prised the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  Five  Cities,  the 
Marches  of  Ancona,  the  duchy  of  Spoleto,  the  county  of 
Bertinoro,  and  the  lands  donated  by  the  Countess  Matilda. 
From  that  time  there  were  seen  no  more  in  Italy  those 
importunate  Imperial  Vicars  and  those  Counts  of  Ro- 
magna. The  Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Lyons  confirmed 
the  right,  but  the  fact,  respected  indeed  by  the  Empire, 
was  always  enfeebled  by  the  Ghibelline  party. 

The  Popes  were  eager  for  a  democracy  confirmed  by 
their  theocracy,  the  Ghibellines  however  desired  the  sway 


12G  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

of  a  foreign  emperor.  Although  the  former  had  prospered 
by  the  power  of  Charles,  yet  there  were  not  wanting  brave 
and  valorous  men  in  the  opposite  party,  who  constantly 
maintained  a  lively  war.  Uguccione  della  Faggiuola  and 
Guy  of  Montefeltro,  terrible  warriors  belonging  to  the 
Ghibelline  party,  arose  to  great  celebrity.  Guy  especially 
had  always  done  very  grave  damage  to  the  Pontiffs,  roam- 
ing about  Romagna  with  great  bravery  whenever  called 
upon  to  give  battle  to  the  opposing  party.  His  blood  was 
truly  Ghibelline,  as  his  family  had  risen  to  a  flourishing 
condition  through  imperial  favors.  His  grandfather  Buon- 
conto,  son  of  Monfeltrino,  received  from  Frederick  II  in 
fief  the  sovereignty  of  Urbino,  being  already  Count  of 
Montefeltro;  and  his  father  Monfeltrino  II  kept  that  state 
which  he  left  to  Guy  his  eldest  son  in  1255.  Guy  surpassed 
his  ancestors  in  his  ardent  devotion  to  the  Empire  and  in 
military  valor.  Intrepid  in  war,  he  was  too  blood-thirsty ; 
a  mark  for  papal  censures  he  never  seemed  disturbed  by 
them.  When  the  people  of  Forli,  whose  commander  he 
was  were  defeated  he  bowed  his  head  in  submission  to  the 
wrathful  Martin,  he  delivered  up  to  him  his  two  sons  as 
hostages,  and  underwent  exile  in  Piedmont.33  But  return- 
ing to  war  when  called  by  the  Ghibelline  Pisans,  more  ter- 
ribly than  ever  did  he  afflict  the  Guelphs,  until  the 
Pisans,34  against  his  will,  made  peace  with  the  Florentines. 
Then  he  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  Pope  Celestine,  we 
know  not  whether  penitent  for  his  deeds  against  the 
Church,  or  weary  of  his  military  life,  asking  pardon  for 
having  brought  on  the  rebellions  of  Cesena  and  Forli,  and 
many  other  evils  occasioned  to  the  Church;  and  he  ob- 
tained it  from  the  good  Pontiff.35  The  proud  spirit  of 
Guy  was  humbled,  but  the  Romagna  was  far  from  being 
peaceful,  and  when  Boniface  ascended  the  throne  of  Peter, 
filled  with  a  strong  desire  of  peace  as  he  was,  he  wished 
immediately  to  provide  for  the  good  government  of  that 
province;  for  the  Count  of  Romagna,  Robert  de  Corney, 
who  was  governor  of  Romagna  under  Celestine,  more 
through  appointment  of  Charles  than  of  the  Pope,  had 
embittered  instead  of  appeasing  the  minds,  insomuch  so 

"•Giacch.  Malasp.  c.  227.  228.— <Villani,  I.  U.  c.  107. 

**Villani.  L.  8.  c.  2.  "Epist.  Bonif.  apud  Raynaldus  1294  n.  15. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

that  the  province  was  altogether  in  revolt.36  Boniface 
dismissed  him  from  office,  and  appointed  in  his  stead  Peter, 
Archbishop  of  Monreale.  In  the  meanwhile  fearing  that 
the  restless  Guy  of  Montefeltro,  received  in  favor  by  Celes- 
tine,  but  not  placed  in  possession  of  his  sovereignties, 
might  break  the  proposals  of  peace,  he  wished  to  gratify 
him,  and  keep  him  as  a  friend.  On  the  25th  of  May  Guy  was 
seen  to  enter  Forli  in  the  company  of  a  papal  legate,  and 
to  receive  from  the  same  the  possession  of  all  his  goods 
and  states.  The  restoration  of  Guy  removed  the  danger 
that  he  would  be  hurtful  to  the  Guelph  party;  but  it  did 
not  bring  peace.37  The  Archbishop  of  Monreale  did  little 
to  establish  peace  in  the  province  and  did  many  imprudent 
things.  He  removed  from  command  in  Faenza  Manghin- 
ardo  of  Sussiana;  he  undertook  to  demolish  in  Eavenna 
the  palaces  of  Guy  of  Polenta,  and  of  his  son  Lambert, 
and  enkindled  a  terrible  war  in  Faenza  between  the  counts 
of  Cunio  and  the  Manfreds  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  Manghinardo,  the  Rauli  and  the  Accarisi,  who  were 
defeated  and  expelled  from  the  city. 

Finally  Boniface  turned  to  William  Durant,  born  in 
France  at  Puy-Nisson  in  1237.  He  had  as  teachers  Henry 
of  Sousa  and  Bernard  of  Parma,  men  very  renowned  in 
those  times  for  knowledge  of  law  and  skill  in  affairs.  He 
wras  the  author  of  the  work  entitled :  "  Speculum  Juris," 
which  Baldo,  and  Paul  de  Castro  praised  highly,  and  for 
which  he  received  the  title  of  "  Speculator."  Popes  Clem- 
ent IV,  Gregory  X,  Nicholas  III,  Martin  IV,  and  Honor- 
ins  IV,  appointed  him  to  difficult  and  honorable  offices 
in  which  he  conducted  affairs  so  skilfully,  that  he  received 
another  surname  of  "Father  of  the  Practical."  He  went 
as  Papal  Legate  to  the  Council  of  Lyons,  and  was  made 
Bishop  of  Mende  by  Honorius  IV.  In  the  fourth  year  of 
his  episcopate  he  was  summoned  to  Italy  by  Boniface,  who 
made  him  Marquis  of  the  March  of  Ancona,  and  Count  of 
Romagna,  which  office  he  once  held  under  Honorius.  His 
honesty  and  skill  inspired  the  Pope  with  the  hope  of  great 
things  from  him.  But  in  the  annals  of  Forli  we  find  no 
record  of  anything  done  by  Durant  to  establish  peace  in 
the  provinces  which  he  was  called  to  govern,  except  caval- 
cades and  some  parleying  which  bore  no  fruit.  It  is  true 

38  Ann.  Caesen.  S.  R.  I.  c.  p.  1110.       "Chron.  Foroliv.  S.  R.  I.  T.  22. 


128  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill. 

he  did  not  remain  long  in  that  office,  for  he  died  on  the 
1st.,  of  November  of  the  following  year  1296,  and  was 
buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Maria  sopra  Minerva  in  Home, 
where  his  tomb  is  seen  to  this  day. 

Boniface  had  his  eyes  fixed  attentively  on  the  kingdom 
of  France,  and  on  him  who  ruled  it,  Philip  IV,  surnamed 
the  Fair.  The  German  Empire  no  longer  caused  fear ;  but 
France  occasioned  some  apprehension  to  the  Papal  mind. 
And  since  in  those  times  a  people  had  nothing  to  distin- 
guish it  from  its  king,  for  its  rights,  its  will,  and  its  very 
existence  were  included  in  that  of  the  prince,  Boniface 
in  thinking  of  France,  could  not  but  fix  his  mind  on  Philip 
who  governed  it.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1268,  and  his 
father  Philip  III  having  died  on  the  5th.,  of  October  1285, 
he  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the 
throne  of  France.  On  the  sixth  day  of  January  1286 
Peter  Barbet,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  anointed  him  king  in 
that  city;  and  Pope  Honorius  IV  congratulated  him  in  a 
Bull  containing  many  special  favors  and  indulgences  for 
those  praying  for  the  happy  commencement  of  his  reign. 
As  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  declared  that  the  king  attains 
his  majority  at  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  was  accordingly 
free  from  all  tutelage,  and  he  took  the  reins  of  government 
into  his  own  hands.  Of  immature  age,  alone  on  the  throne, 
and  not  steadied  by  the  advice  of  another,  he  cast  his  eyes 
upon  his  subject  people,  and  he  saw  them  bowed  before 
him,  his  youthful  mind  was  immediately  intoxicated  with 
the  idea  of  supreme  dominion.  His  mind  devoid  of  the  sci- 
ence of  government,  and  his  heart  spoiled  by  the  flattery  of 
courtiers,  his  will  alone  was  the  rule  of  governing  and  the 
law  for  the  subjects.  He  took  as  wife  Joanna  of  Navarre 
who  brought  him  as  a  dowry  this  other  realm,  the  counties 
of  Champagne  and  Brie  which  had  belonged  to  her  father, 
Henry  of  Navarre,  and  the  county  of  Brigorre,  which  from 
Simon  of  Montfort  had  descended  to  Theobald  II,  king  of 
Navarre,  the  material  uncle  of  Joanna.  The  increased 
territory  inspired  Philip  with  thirst  for  more;  rendered 
him  jealous  of  power,  and  inordinate  in  the  use  of  it.  As 
his  grandfather  was  surnamed  the  Saint,  and  rightly ;  and 
his  father  the  Bold,  wrongly;  he  was  called  the  Fair,  on 
account  of  physical  beauty.  The  beauty  of  his  soul  was 
marred  by  an  insatiable  lust  for  gold  and  in  order  to  sat- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  129 

isfy  it,  he  never  knew  what  justice  was.  He  plundered  the 
people,  he  robbed  the  churches.  In  the  distresses  of  the 
people  he  was  never  compassionate;  and  he  was  a  bare- 
faced violator  of  the  rights  of  the  Church.  France  was 
reduced  to  such  a  condition,  that  far  from  correcting  the 
vices  of  her  king,  she  encouraged  them.  The  feudal  lords 
once  formidable  to  the  king,  not  only  were  subdued,  but 
they  did  not  offer  any  longer  even  a  semblance  of  power 
to  restrain  the  monarchy.  After  Louis  IX  had  humbled 
them,  they  laid  aside  their  rusty  coat  of  mail  and  clothed 
themselves  in  the  soft  Italian  and  Flemish  cloths;  from 
warriors  they  degenerated  into  courtiers.  The  rest  of  the 
people  were  slaves.  Authority  in  France  was  never  so 
strictly  confined  in  the  will  of  the  king,  as  at  this  time.  In 
despotism  and  in  rapine  Philip  had  worthy  and  obedient 
ministers.  In  the  former  they  were  the  jurisconsults,  and 
in  the  latter  two  Italians,  Biccio  and  Musciatto,  sons  of 
Guy  de  Franzesi.  The  lawyers  built  a  bulwark  of  law, 
upon  which  they  battled  against  the  enemies  of  despotism, 
with  that  strength  which  arises  in  a  body  of  men  conscious 
of  their  own  individual  power  in  the  state,  and  the  support 
which  it  brings  to  the  kingdom.  And  as  a  citadel  of  refuge 
they  instituted  the  parliament  in  which  injustice  was  clad 
in  healthfulness  of  forms.  Being  thus  fortified,  Philip 
found  no  obstacles  to  his  profligacy.  Among  the  orders  of 
the  State  that  of  the  clergy  was  the  only  one  that  annoyed 
him.  These  were  bound  together  by  laws  which  were  not 
the  civil  laws;  they  possessed  rights  which  were  not  en- 
graven in  the  human  codices,  and  for  that  reason  invul- 
nerable by  human  power;  they  held  a  patrimony  conse- 
crated by  religion  to  God;  they  had  as  their  head  the  Ko- 
man  Pontiff.  Philip  coveted  their  rights  and  possessions, 
and  he  was  jealous  of  the  Papal  power.  A  Christian  he 
was  and  his  conscience  might  reproach  him  for  his  inordi- 
nate concupiscence  of  divine  things;  but  his  jurisconsults 
caused  so  much  splendor  to  shine  from  the  crown,  that 
his  sight  was  dazzled,  and  Philip  saw  no  other  God  but 
this.  And  if  any  struggle  was  to  be  foreseen,  this  assur- 
edly was  no  other  but  one  with  the  Pope. 

Boniface  knew  the  character  of  Philip,  since  although 
immature  in  years,  he  had  already  shown  himself  ripe  for 
oppression  by  an  act  of  awful  villainy  which  in  Italy,  even 


130  HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

more  than  elsewhere,  gave  him  a  vile  reputation.  The 
Italians  at  this  time  were  very  active  in  commerce.  Many 
of  them  carried  it  on  in  France,  and  as  they  were  almost 
alone  in  trading  they  were  very  rich.  On  the  night  of 
May  1st,  1291,  Philip  arrested  them  unexpectedly  at  the 
instance  of  his  ministers  and  cast  all  of  them  into  dark 
prisons.  After  some  time  they  learned  that  they  were  thus 
punished  for  the  sin  of  usury,  and  that  to  make  them 
confess  it  they  would  be  subject  to  cruel  torture.  These 
unfortunates  purchased  their,  life  and  liberty  with  their 
riches;  and  the  judges  who  were  to  have  condemned  them 
collected  the  money  and  brought  it  to  Philip.  The  two 
Florentines  Franzesi  advised  this  robbery;  and  the  juris- 
consults palliated  and  justified  it,  not  being  ashamed  of 
their  ruffianism.38 

In  order  that  we  may  know  how  the  relations  between 
Boniface  and  Philip  began  to  be  strained,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary for  us  to  say  something  about  Edward  of  England, 
for  the  reason  that  from  the  enmity  engendered  between 
him  and  Philip  followed  the  like  feelings  between  Philip 
and  Boniface. 

Edward,  the  first  of  his  name,  son  of  Henry  III,  was 
fifty-six  years  old  when  Boniface  assumed  the  Pontificate. 
In  person  he  was  tall,  hence  nicknamed,  "  Longshanks," 
but  well  proportioned;  the  length  of  his  arms  gave  addi- 
tional force  to  his  stroke ;  and  when  he  was  once  placed  on 
his  saddle,  no  struggle  of  his  horse,  no  shock  of  the  enemy 
could  dislodge  him  from  his  seat  In  temper  he  was  warm 
and  irascible,  impatient  of  injury,  and  reckless  of  danger : 
but  his  anger  might  be  disarmed  by  submission,  and  his 
temerity  seemed  to  be  justified  by  success.  He  was  not 
hard-hearted;  at  least  not  without  affection  for  his  own 
family.  He  was  in  Sicily  when  he  received  the  first  news 
of  his  father's  death ;  the  tears  which  he  shed  on  that  occa- 
sion, though  they  excited  the  surprise  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
bore  honorable  testimony  to  the  goodness  of  his  heart. 
Inasmuch  as  he  alone  had  hastened  to  the  declining  for- 
tunes of  the  Holy  Land,  and  had  arrested  for  a  time  the 
fall  of  Ptolemais,  his  name  was  dear  to  Christians  and  to 
Rome.  He  was  considered  as  the  champion  of  Christen- 
dom, the  martyr  of  the  cross.  Returning  from  the  East  his 

88  Villani,  book  7,  ch.  146. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

journey  through  Italy  was  a  triumphal  procession;  at 
every  city  the  magistrates,  clergy  and  people,  came  out  to 
receive  him;  and  the  Milanese  forced  on  his  acceptance 
valuable  presents  of  horses  and  scarlet  cloth.  In  ambition 
he  did  not  yield  to  any  of  his  predecessors ;  but  his  ambi- 
tion aimed  at  a  very  different  object.  They  had  exhausted 
their  strength  in  attempting  conquests  on  the  continent 
which  might  be  wrested  from  them  at  any  time  by  a  for- 
tunate neighbor;  he  aspired  to  unite  in  himself  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  whole  island  of  Great  Britain.  For  that 
reason  he  set  about  to  subjugate  Wales  and  Scotland,  and 
incorporate  them  with  England.  The  many  wars  in  which 
he  was  engaged  necessarily  involved  him  in  extraordinary 
expenses,  and  to  supply  his  wants  he  taxed  the  churches 
exceedingly.  But  the  barons  and  bishops  of  England  be- 
ing fortified  by  the  Magna  Charta  opposed  his  wishes 
vehemently,  and  used  force  to  check  him.  Edward  not 
only  was  restrained,  but  was  even  placed  in  great  danger 
by  reason  of  the  taxes. 

From  1284  to  the  time  whereof  we  speak,  Edward  had 
conquered  by  force  of  arms  all  the  country  of  Wales,  and 
was  proceeding  gradually  to  obtain  sovereignty  over  Scot- 
land, having  in  1293  received  the  oath  of  vassalage  from 
Baliol,  to  whom  by  his  selection  had  been  given  the  crown 
of  that  kingdom.  These  successes  violently  excited  the 
jealousy  of  Philip  the  Fair,  but  Edward  gave  him  no  cause 
to  reprove  him.  As  duke  of  Aquitaine,  which  he  held  in 
fief  from  France,  among  his  first  acts  on  ascending  the 
English  throne,  he  swore  fealty  to  Philip.  Edward  found 
this  yoke  heavy,  but  did  not  shake  it  off;  Philip  however 
could  not  bear  the  thought  of  his  conquests.  These  two 
princes  began  to  be  involved  on  occasion  of  a  private  dis- 
pute. In  1293  two  sailors  an  Englishman  and  a  Norman 
quarrelled  and  fought,  and  the  Norman  died  from  his 
wounds.  This  was  the  spark  that  kindled  the  fire  of  war 
first  between  the  French  and  the  English,  and  afterwards 
the  sovereigns.  In  1293  offences  and  retaliation  were  so 
frequent  and  warm  that  the  navies  of  each  country  took 
part  in  the  quarrel  without  the  customary  formal  declara- 
tion of  war.  Fortune  or  valor  favored  the  English,  and 
the  French  were  badly  beaten.  Edward  considering  the 
fray  private  and  not  ordered  by  him,  refused  to  accept 


132  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  part  of  the  booty  which  was  coming  to  him  from  the 
battle.39  He  did  not  desire  war;  but  these  precautions 
were  not  sufficient  to  prevent  Philip  from  going  to  a  meet- 
ing crowded  with  his  jurisconsults,  the  omnipotent  crea- 
tors of  law,  who  sanctioned  Philip's  secret  design  of  driv- 
ing Edward  from  the  French  continent. 

In  that  disorderly  war  it  was  asserted  that  the  people 
of  Bayonne,  the  subjects  of  Edward,  had  attempted  to 
surprise  the  port  of  Rochelle.  Philip  as  the  direct  lord  of 
Aquitaine  ordered  Edward's  lieutenant  to  lodge  the  ac- 
cused in  a  French  prison.  He  neglected  the  requisition; 
and  for  that  reason  the  officials  of  Philip  wished  to  expel 
from  that  region  the  disobedient  vassals,  but  they  were 
driven  back  by  arms.  Then  in  consequence  Philip  sent  a 
peremptory  summons  to  Edward,  as  his  vassal,  ordering 
him  to  appear  within  twenty  days,  before  his  parliament, 
and  answer  for  these  offences  against  his  sovereign.  The 
English  prince  who  saw  the  real  object  of  Philip,  endeav- 
ored to  appease  his  resentment.  He  offered  compensation 
to  the  French  sufferers,  and  to  make  restitution  for  injury 
and  loss ;  and  when  this  was  refused,  proposed  to  refer  the 
dispute  to  an  arbitrator  of  their  choice  who  might  be  the 
Pope,  whose  office  it  was  to  preserve  concord  among 
princes. 

The  offers  he  renewed  through  his  brother  Edmund, 
whom  he  dispatched  as  ambassador  to  France.  But  Ed- 
mund was  a  man  of  simplicity,  and  was  no  match  for 
Philip  and  his  lawyers.  Philip's  sole  object,  he  was  told, 
was  to  guard  his  honor,  and  to  do  this  a  promise  was  given 
that,  if  Gascony  was  surrendered  to  him  for  forty  days  in 
1294,  it  should  be  at  the  expiration  of  that  period  faith- 
fully restored.  A  secret  treaty  to  that  effect  was  con- 
cluded. It  was  signed  by  the  consort  of  Philip;  Edward 
signified  his  consent;  and  the  French  monarch,  in  the 
presence  of  several  witnesses,  promised  to  observe  it  on 
the  word  of  a  king.  The  citation  against  Edward  was  now 
withdrawn.  At  the  expiration  of  forty  days  Edmund  re- 
minded Philip  of  his  promise;  but  was  requested  to  for- 
bear till  certain  lords  of  the  council  would  have  departed 
from  Paris.  Some  days  after  he  repeated  his  demand,  and 
received  a  positive  refusal.  Philip  took  his  seat  in  his 

"  Walsingham  60-481. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

court,  rejected  the  arguments  of  Edward's  advocates,  and 
although  the  citation  had  been  withdrawn,  condemned  him 
as  contumacious,  and  pronounced  judgment  against  him 
by  default  of  appearance.40  Friendship  between  the  two 
princes  was  broken.  Edward,  by  the  advice  of  a  great 
council,  appealed  to  arms  to  enforce  his  rights. 

In  the  coming  war,  each  one  of  the  opponents  resolved  to 
strengthen  his  side  by  alliances  with  other  princes.  Philip 
won  over  to  his  side  Eric,  king  of  Norway,  enemy  of  Ed- 
ward, who  had  excluded  him  from  the  throne  of  Scotland; 
Rudolph,  the  deposed  king  of  the  Romans  who  hoped  to 
supplant  his  rival  Adolphus  of  Nassau ;  Hugh  of  Longivy ; 
James  of  Chatillon,  lord  of  Leuse  and  of  Conde ;  Florence, 
count  of  Holland ;  Otto  IV,  count  of  Burgundy ;  and  finally 
some  cities  of  Castile,  and  the  communes  of  Fontara- 
bia,  and  St.  Sebastian.  Edward  called  to  his  aid  Adolphus 
of  Nassau,  king  of  the  Romans  whom  Philip  deprived  of 
the  territory  of  Aries  and  Burgundy ;  and  Philip  of  Rich- 
mond, duke  of  Brittany.  But  more  vigorous  action  de- 
volved on  them  both  reciprocally,  in  stirring  up  powerful 
enemies  as  it  were  in  their  own  houses.  Philip  concluded 
an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive  with  John  Baliol,  king 
of  Scotland,  on  whom  Edward  had  imposed  a  heavy  yoke, 
and  they  promised  one  another  to  move  their  forces  against 
Edward  if  he  should  invade  France  or  Scotland.41  Ed- 
ward from  1294  had  concluded  a  treaty  with  Guy  of  Dam- 
piere,  Count  of  Flanders,  and  vassal  of  France,  wherein 
the  latter  promised  in  marriage  his  daughter  Philippa 
with  a  very  rich  dowry.  But  Philip  the  Fair  by  charming 
pretenses  knew  how  to  entice  Guy  and  the  affianced  one  to 
Paris,  whom  he  wickedly  imprisoned  in  the  tower  of 
Louvre.  Guy  found  a  way  of  escape,  but  his  unfortunate 
daughter  remained  a  prisoner  until  she  died,  as  he  said, 
of  poison.42  These  acts  of  violence  bound  together  more 
closely  the  Flemish  count  and  Edward,  and  inspired  the 
former  with  fury  with  which  he  later  on  waged  war  against 
Philip. 

Whilst  these  princes  were  acting  in  this  hostile  manner, 
Boniface,  who  was  at  this  time  in  Anagni,  was  entertain- 
ing strong  hopes  of  peace.  As  he  desired  sincerely  peace, 

"Rym.  ii  619-622.  "Rymer.  Tom.  II,  p.  695. 

"Villani.  VIII.  19 — Chron.  Nangii  1294.— Walsing  29. 


134  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

he  made  use  of  all  the  privileges  of  his  office,  as  father 
of  the  faithful  and  peacemaker,  to  effect  a  peace  between 
Philip  and  Edward.  Claude  Fleury  observes  that  pre- 
cisely the  action  of  Boniface  in  this  affair  was  ill-timed, 
in  that  he  wished  to  intrude  himself  in  other  affairs,  and 
make  himself  master  of  them.43  But  if  the  good  confessor 
of  Louis  XIV,  to  the  knowledge  of  jurisprudence  which 
he  eminently  possessed,  had  added  a  little  of  that  which 
is  called  the  philosophy  of  history,  he  would  have  easily 
understood  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  in  the  time  of  Boni- 
face, by  common  consent  of  the  people,  was  the  acknowl- 
edged arbiter  in  grave  controversies,  which  opinion  did 
not  prevail  any  more  in  his  time.  In  fact  Edward  of  his 
own  free  will  suggested  to  Philip  to  submit  their  case  to 
the  decision  of  Boniface,  because  it  was  his  duty  to  pre- 
serve peace  among  the  faithful. 

Therefore  in  order  to  soothe  their  angry  feelings  Boni- 
face entered  as  mediator  between  Edward  and  Philip,  and 
their  followers,  that  if  blood  of  the  people  might  not  be 
shed  nor  the  revenue  of  the  churches  appropriated  to  carry 
on  the  war.  It  is  true  however  that  in  all  this  affair  of 
the  peace  he  always  leaned  to  the  side  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
and  the  issue  resulted  in  his  favor.  In  February  1295  he 
dispatched  as  legates  to  England  and  France,  Cardinal 
Bernard,  bishop  of  Albano,  and  Cardinal  Simon,  bishop 
of  Palestrina,  to  urge  these  kings  to  lay  down  their  arms. 
They  were  ordered  to  serve  those  unholy  alliances;  to  ab- 
solve the  parties  from  the  oath  that  bound  them ;  to  remove 
all  obstacles  in  the  way  of  peace ;  and  they  had  full  power 
to  threaten  them  with  censures,  closing  at  the  same  time 
any  way  of  appeal.44 

In  May  1295  the  legates  arrived  in  Paris ; 45  and  from 
there  in  July  they  set  out  for  London.  Edward  received 
them  with  all  honor  and  respect,  and  summoned  a  great 
parliament  at  Westminster.  In  this  parliament  the 
legates  explained  the  reasons  of  their  embassy,  and  Ed- 
mund, the  brother  of  the  king,  and  John  Lacy  made  known 
the  reasons  of  their  war  with  France,  which  at  present  was 
suspended.  The  papal  projects  for  peace,  although  pleas- 
ing to  Edward,  could  not  be  accepted  by  him  without  the 

43  Lib.  89.  num.  42.  **  Raynaldus,  1295,  41  Epi.  2.  Lib.  1. 

"  Chr.  Guill.  Nangii  apud  Achery,  T.  3.  1295. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  135 

consent  of  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Romans,  who  was  in 
league  with  him.  He  agreed,  as  God  willed,  to  a  cessation 
of  hostilities  until  November.46  But  alas !  in  the  midst  of 
these  hopes,  suddenly  the  French  made  a  descent  on  Dover 
and  brought  it  to  ruin ;  as  soon  as  the  news  of  this  reached 
Edward,  not  only  did  he  break  the  truce,  but  his  anger 
and  indignation  was  increased. — 

In  the  meanwhile  Boniface  accompanied  from  afar  his 
legates  by  letters  so  as  to  give  strength  and  support  to 
their  proceedings.  One  dated  the  28th  of  May,  1295,  from 
Velletri,  he  addressed  to  Edward,  which  may  have  arrived 
while  the  parliament  of  Westminster  was  in  session.  In 
this  letter  he  exhorted  him  to  dismiss  the  thought  of  war, 
as  those  feats  of  arms  which  he  practised  were  a  work 
unsuited  to  his  years,  verging  as  he  was  on  old  age,  and 
the  body  advanced  in  years  being  unable  to  endure  them. 
Had  he  forgotten,  that  he  was  bound  by  now  to  the 
supreme  King,  for  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Land?  Was  he 
not  mindful  of  the  injury  he  would  do  to  his  eternal  salva- 
tion, by  turning  the  forces  against  his  fellow  Christians, 
which  he  should  rather  turn  against  the  infidels?  Did  he 
not  consider  the  contest  unbecoming  a  king,  and  an  occa- 
sion of  joy  to  the  enemies  of  the  Cross?  He  besought  him 
through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  through  reverence  for  the 
Apostolic  See,  and  for  the  good  of  his  soul  to  make  peace 
with  Philip.47  For  the  attainment  of  the  same  peace 
Boniface  sent  as  legates  to  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Romans, 
the  Archbishop  of  Reggio  and  the  Bishop  of  Siena. 
Adolphus  trusting  in  Edward  hoped  to  gain  many  advan- 
tages by  the  war;  but  his  rival  Albert  who  wished  to  de- 
prive him  of  the  crown,  kept  him  uneasy,  and  rendered 
necessary  the  good-will  of  the  Pope.  Wherefore  he  had 
already  sent  his  messengers  to  make  profession  of  his  de- 
votion to  the  Roman  Church,  but  they  made  no  mention  of 
peace.  Boniface  returned  him  thanks  for  his  devotion, 
and  signified  to  him  his  good-will.  He  exhorted  him  not 
to  have  his  actions  at  variance  with  his  words ;  he  desired 
peace  between  him  and  Philip,  and  to  accomplish  it  he 
sends  him  as  legates  the  two  aforesaid  prelates.48  In 
another  letter,  reminding  him  of  his  unstable  sovereignty, 

"Rymer.  Tom.  II  Pag.  685.  «TChron.  Vill.  Nangii;— Matth.  Westm.  4 — 
Knyghton  de  Ev.  Angli.  lib  III,  page  2503.      "Raynaldus  1295  Epi.  171. 


136  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

he  began  in  a  certain  way  to  complain,  because  at  his 
solemn  elevation  to  the  Papacy,  he  did  not  see  the  usual 
ambassadors  of  the  King  of  the  Romans :  "  Are  these,  my 
son,  the  laudable  beginnings  of  your  greatness?  Are  these 
"  the  invitations  and  the  encouragement  you  give  the  Ro- 
"  man  Church  to  aid  you  in  your  needs?  In  fact  consid- 
"  ering  yourself  elected,  and  as  it  were  called  by  God  to 
"  strive  for  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  all  Christendom, 
"  in  the  very  beginning  you  prepare  yourself  with  all  your 
"  strength,  and  gird  on  your  armor  with  all  skill,  to  involve 
"  the  world  in  troubles,  to  stir  up  strife  among  Christian 
"  princes,  and  you  use  your  efforts  not  without  great  detri- 
"  ment  to  your  honor.  Is  it  perhaps  becoming  to  you,  so 
"  great  and  powerful  a  prince,  to  be  enticed  to  take  up 
"  arms,  like  a  common  soldier,  by  the  attraction  of  some 
"  stipend  ?  49  As  a  lover  of  your  honor,  reputation  and 
"advancement  I  put  before  you  these  things." — 

And  in  order  that  his  words  might  be  supported  by  a 
more  effectual  argument,  after  having  by  letter  exhorted 
the  bishops  of  Germany  to  receive  his  legates  honorably, 
and  to  consider  as  valid  any  censures  which  they  might 
impose  upon  the  contumacious;  and  after  having  tried  to 
move  the  mind  of  Adolphus  by  means  of  a  certain  Diterius, 
a  Dominican  Friar,  of  great  authority  with  the  king  on 
account  of  his  piety,50  he  then  began  to  write  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Mainz,  that  in  case  Adolphus  would  not  desist 
from  the  war,  he  should  refuse  him  aid  and  subsidies. 
This  was  taking  all  power  from  the  king.  For  when  he 
ascended  the  throne  he  found  that  the  princes  of  the  Em- 
pire, during  the  interregnum,  had  usurped  many  mone- 
tary rights  which  belonged  to  the  sovereign,  and  the  bene- 
fits pertaining  to  the  German  crown;  and  therefore,  the 
income  from  his  paternal  states  being  meagre,  it  was  only 
from  the  prince  electors,  and  the  vassals  that  he  could 
obtain  support  in  money. 

Laudable  was  that  work  which  Boniface  set  out  to  per- 
form, to  restrain  the  warlike  intentions  of  these  two 

*»And  it  was  true.  "Romanorum  Rex  Adulfus  Regi  Angliae  Eduardo 

pecunia  contra  Regem  Franciae  confederatus "  William  Nangii 

Chron.  1294. — »"  Rex  Angliae  misit  Regi  Romanorum  XXX  millia  Mar- 
corum,  ut  retulit  qui  vidit "  Chron.  Colmariense,  par.  2. 

58  Raynaldus  year  1295-46. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  137 

princes  for  the  good  of  their  people  and  of  the  Church. 
The  war  could  not  be  carried  on  without  money,  and  to  ob- 
tain it  Edward  as  well  as  Philip  levied  many  and  heavy 
taxes  on  both  the  laity  and  the  clergy;  so  that  the  former 
were  impoverished,  and  the  latter  complained  of  the  viola- 
tion of  their  sacred  immunities.  Precisely  in  the  very 
month  of  May  that  the  Papal  legates  had  arrived  in  Paris 
for  the  sake  of  making  peace,  Philip  disgraced  his  royal 
dignity,  and  outraged  in  the  most  vile  manner  the  sacred 
rights  of  his  people  by  that  cursed  war.  He  caused  to  be 
published  throughout  the  kingdom  the  following  scandal- 
ous edict.  "  The  pecuniary  distress  into  which  the  affairs 
"  of  the  kingdom  were  placed,  made  it  incumbent  on  him 
"  to  coin  a  money,  which  would  perhaps  be  wanting  in 
"  weight  and  value ;  and  he  bound  himself  and  his  wife 
"  Joanna  of  Navarre,  to  make  good  the  loss  that  anyone 
"  would  suffer  thereby." — This  fair  promise  prevented  the 
stupefied  French  people  from  crying  out  immediately,  but 
afterwards  they  did  protest  and  complain  when  the  King 
absolved  himself  from  making  restitution.51 

But  whilst  the  heart  of  Boniface  was  grieving  over  his 
fruitless  efforts  with  the  English  and  French  princes,  an- 
other Northern  prince,  laid  his  hands  rudely,  not  only  on 
goods  but  also  on  persons  consecrated  to  God.  This  prince 
was  Eric  IV,  king  of  Denmark.  But  before  speaking  of 
his  violence  towards  the  Archbishop  of  Lund,  in  order  to 
understand  it  better,  it  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  go 
back  a  little.  After  the  death  of  Pope  Innocent  III,  the 
clerical  immunities  and  the  ecclesiastical  patrimonies 
began  to  be  affected  greatly,  and  the  secular  power  with 
little  moderation  violated  them,  in  the  more  civilized 
countries  through  the  pretext  of  avenged  rights,  in  the  less 
civilized  through  impetuosity  of  power.  Among  the  latter 
were  the  kings  of  Denmark,  a  kingdom  which  comprised 
the  great  peninsula  of  Jutland,  and  other  islands.  Al- 
though the  light  of  the  Gospel  was  brought  to  it  in  826  by 
St.  Anscherius,  a  Benedictine  monk  from  the  monastery  of 
Corby  in  France,  yet  the  Danes  persevered  in  piracy,  which 
they  practised  especially  to  the  detriment  of  France.52 

MOrdin,  of  the  kings   of   France  T.   I,   p.    325 "Daus   la 

quelle  il  manquera  peut  etre  quelque  chose  du  poids  ou  du  titre." 
"Art  de  Verif.  les  dates. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Piracy  having  ceased,  their  rough  habits  endured,  and  in 
Danish  history  there  are  ever  to  be  deplored  cruel  wars, 
the  murders  of  kings,  rebellions  of  the  peoples;  in  a  word, 
little  soundness  of  justice,  much  uncontrollable  power 
and  savage  force.  There  is  no  doubt  that  even  the  clerics 
were  not  all  free  from  the  vices  of  that  people,  but  it  is 
certain  that  reverence  for  God  and  his  ministers  was  a 
shield  often  too  weak  to  withstand  the  attacks  of  the  in- 
ordinate power  of  the  Danish  princes.  We  find  that  from 
the  year  1257,  the  bishops  were  subjected  to  vexations  by 
the  violence  of  the  secular  power,  and  resolved  to  fortify 
themselves  against  it  by  decrees  enacted  in  a  national 
council.  They  came  together,  and  in  a  synod  enacted  four 
decrees,  which  are  found  among  the  epistles  of  Alexander 
IV,53  published  by  Kaynaldus  and  Mansi,54  the  preface  of 
which  is  the  declaration  of  the  reasons  for  this  sacred 
assembly,  and  which  it  may  be  well  here  to  produce. 
"  The  Danish  Church  being  exposed  to  such  grievous  perse- 
"  cutions  from  tyrants,  who  do  not  even  hesitate  before 
"  the  eyes  of  the  King  to  inflict  injuries  and  threats  on 
"  the  persons  of  the  bishops,  who  present  themselves  as  a 
"  wall  of  defence  to  the  house  of  God ;  which  threats  are 
"  rightly  to  be  feared,  since  the  clergy  are  deprived  of  all 
"  protection  of  the  secular  power,  who  and  the  tyrants  free 
"  in  audacity,  and  unrestrained  by  royal  fear,  can  proceed 
"  to  worst  excesses,  hence  the  Church  has  enacted  by  the 

"  authority  of  the  present   Council "     The 

decrees  then  follow,  which  full  of  Apostolic  liberty  of 
judgment,  serve  as  a  wall  to  protect  the  episcopal  immuni- 
ties against  the  tyranny  even  of  the  king.  They  decreed 
to  interdict  the  divine  offices  throughout  Denmark,  if  a 
bishop  were  imprisoned,  struck,  or  maltreated  by  the 
order,  consent,  or  approval  of  the  king.  If  these  evils 
were  visited  on  a  bishop  by  a  foreign  potentate,  under  the 
suspicion  of  being  abetted  by  the  king,  or  some  noble  of 
the  kingdom,  the  diocese  of  the  prelate  maltreated  will 
remain  interdicted.  The  kingdom  will  be  interdicted,  if 
the  king,  after  being  admonished  by  two  bishops  or  clerics, 
stubbornly  refuses  to  repair  the  injury  within  the  space 
of  six  months.  Solemn  excommunication  was  hurled 

63  Lib.  3.  Epist.  674. 

M  Coll.  Max.  Concil.  Tom.  23,  colum.  945  for  year  1257. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  139 

against  any  priest  or  chaplain  celebrating  the  divine  offices 
in  time  of  interdict,  either  in  public,  or  in  the  presence  of 
any  one  of  these  potentates. 

From  the  remedies  applied  for  their  removal  the  evils 
become  known,  which  far  from  diminishing,  only  in- 
crease, since  the  Danish  kings  could  not  be  persuaded  that 
God  rules  over  the  churches  by  His  ministers.  The  blows 
were  always  directed  against  the  Archbishop  of  Lund,  the 
principal  See  of  Denmark.  One  year  after  the  aforesaid 
synod,  Christopher  I  cast  into  prison  James  Erlander, 
Archbishop  of  Lund.  We  come  now  to  the  time  of  Eric 
Menved,  and  new  disputes  with  John  Grandt,  Archbishop 
of  Lund.  The  reason  of  the  dispute  was  the  assumption  of 
his  see  by  Grandt  before  being  confirmed  in  itjt>y  the  ap- 
proval of  the  king.  He  repaired  to  Rome  to  confer  with 
the  Pope  on  the  wants  of  his  see,  and  on  his  return  in  1292 
he  held  a  synod  of  his  suffragans  at  Roschild  to  guarantee 
the  liberty  of  the  bishops  wickedly  attacked  by  Eric.55 
That  which  should  have  instructed  the  prince  in  wisdom 
and  prudence  aggravated  him,  and  deceived  by  that  pesti- 
lential plague  which  ever  besieges  thrones,  we  mean  the 
flatterers,56  he  became  exceedingly  violent.  A  certain 
Rannon  Jonah,  the  majordomo  of  Eric's  father,  Eric  Glip- 
ping,  had  been  cast  into  prison,  being  accused  of  the  con- 
spiracy against  his  lord  Eric,  who  was  killed  while  asleep 
by  the  blow  of  a  club  in  the  village  of  Finorap,  near  Wil- 
burg,  in  1286.  Under  torture  he  confessed  the  crime,  and 
he  paid  the  penalty  with  his  life.  The  deceased  Ranon 
was  a  nephew  of  the  Archbishop  of  Lund.  This  relation- 
ship served  as  a  good  pretext  for  considering  the  prelate 
guilty,  and  for  judging  him  accordingly.  He  ordered  his 
brother  Christopher  to  imprison  the  Archbishop  and 
James  Langius,  provost  of  the  diocese  of  Lund;  and  to 
justify  the  sacrilege,  he  spread  the  report  that  the  Arch- 
bishop had  been  an  accomplice  in  the  murder  of  his  father 

KJoh.  Isac.  Pontanus  Rerum  Damicar.  Hist.  Edict.  Amstelodami  1631 
in  fol.  lib.  VII,  pag.  378. 

18 Serenitas  regia  pravis,  ut  creditur,  stimulata  sussuris,  et 

mendacibus  provocata  suasibus  perversorum,  qui  mala  malis  adjicere 
satagunt!  (Epist.  358  ad  Reg.  Danic.  Bonifac  VIII.)  And  I  believe  he 
also  alluded  to  the  mother  of  Eric  IV  who  was  regent  during  the  tender 
years  of  Eric. 


140 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


Eric  Clipping,  because  he  was  a  blood  relation  of  the  arch- 
conspirator  in  the  crime;  and  besides  he  had  assumed  the 
See  of  Lund  against  his  will.  After  nine  years  the  Danish 
King  took  notice  of  the  complicity  of  the  Archbishop. 
His  innocent  relationship  with  the  conspirator  was  a 
crime,  and  the  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  freedom  was  a 
fault.  But  no,  the  prelate  was  guilty  only  of  a  noble  re- 
sistance to  the  tyranny  of  an  arrogant  prince.  In  fact,  in 
order  to  conceal  the  true  reason  of  that  imprisonment, 
feigning  devotion  to  the  Church,  the  King  issued  certain 
royal  decrees  in  which  he  declared,  that  he  undertook  the 
defence  of  the  church  of  Lund  deprived  of  a  pastor;  that 
he  is  the  vindicator  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  same. 

"  We   will   not   allow,"   said   he   "  holy   Mother 

"  Church,  or  the  clergy  of  this  diocese,  now  deprived  of  its 
"  pastor,  to  be  oppressed  and  harassed  in  their  property, 
"  rights  and  liberty  by  the  violent  attacks  of  certain 
"  tyrants ;  as  we  are  specially  obliged  by  the  office  we  hold 
"  to  provide  carefully  for  their  peace  and  quiet."  He 
wished  to  expel  tyrants,  and  yet  making  himself  Pope,  he 
was  a  wolf  in  the  fold." 57 

Therefore  to  the  greatest  injury  and  scandal  of  the 
Church  of  Lund,  the  Archbishop  and  Provost  languished 
in  prison  for  some  weeks,  and  there  did  not  seem  to  be  any 
hope  of  release.  Finally,  the  Provost  escaped  from  prison, 
in  a  way  known  only  to  God,  and  went  straight  to  Rome, 
and  poured  out  his  complaints  to  the  Papal  Court,  for 
he  had  left  Denmark  involved  in  a  terrible  civil  war. 
Boniface  listened  attentively,  as  he  should  to  the  com- 
plaints of  the  fugitive  Provost,  and  that  the  recital  of  such 
great  violations  of  ecclesiastical  immunities  went  to  his 
heart,  is  not  to  be  doubted.  Yet  he  restrained  his  just 
indignation,  and  did  not  proceed  with  severity  against 
Eric,  before  everything  had  been  made  clear.  He  sent  as 
legate,  Isarno,  Archpriest  of  Carcassone,  who  was  to  exe- 
cute that  which  he  had  expressed  in  a  letter  to  the  Danish 
King.  Boniface  began  by  lamenting  the  evils  which  en- 
compassed Denmark  and  says : 58  "  His  heart  was  pierced 
"  to  hear  how  the  kingdom  is  torn  by  discords,  the 
"  whole  nation  being  in  revolt ;  the  salvation  of  souls  being 

"Pontan.  Dan.  Hist.  Lib.  VII,  p.  380.  MSpis.  358,  Raynaldus  50. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  neglected,  as  all  thought  of  piety  had  vanished ;  and  for 
"  that  reason  the  way  was  wide  open  for  wicked  deeds, 
"  for  the  performance  of  horrible  and  nefarious  designs, 
"  for  the  stirring  up  of  litigations,  and  for  inciting 
"  hatreds.  All  this  was  owing  to  the  sacrilegious  oppres- 
"  sion  and  imprisonment  of  his  brother  John,  Primate  of 
"  Lund,  with  an  affront  so  great  to  the  Divine  Majesty, 
"  with  contempt  for  the  Apostolic  See,  and  injury  to  ec- 
"  clesiastical  liberty ;  he  besought  him  through  Christ  our 
"  Lord,  and  commanded  him  to  release  the  Archbishop, 
"  and  not  hinder  him  from  coming  to  Home,  as  his  im- 
"  prisonment  was  a  most  grievous  offence  to  the  King  of 
"  Glory,  who  kept  him  on  his  throne ;  a  disturbance  in  the 
11  Church,  and  a  scandal  to  the  faithful.  Finally  he  would 
"  send  him  legatees  well  instructed  in  the  affair,  to  make 
"  themselves  understand  it  more  clearly,  and  who  would 
"  make  wholesome  and  energetic  provisions  for  peace  in 
"  the  kingdom." 

The  Archbishop  did  not  await  from  the  king  the  priv- 
ilege of  repairing  speedily  to  Rome,  but  through  the  pious 
artifice  of  his  bearer  of  food,  who  had  concealed,  in  a  large 
loaf  of  bread  which  he  carried  to  him,  a  file  and  a  silken 
ladder,  he  possessed  at  length  the  means  of  escape  from 
prison.  The  reader  can  readily  imagine  how  quickly  he 
set  out  for  Rome,  and  how  strongly  he  complained  of  the 
persecutions  he  had  undergone. 

The  bright  hopes  which  Boniface  entertained  as  a  result 
of  the  interview  with  Frederick  at  Velletri  vanished.  The 
Sicilians  abhorred  the  French  yoke,  and  Frederick  him- 
self heard  the  voice  of  ambition  which  called  him  to  the 
throne.  The  legates  dispatched  by  Boniface  could  no- 
where find  a  hearing,  as  every  one  in  Sicily  was  wholly 
engaged  in  certain  reports  about  James  of  Aragon,  who 
faithful  to  the  promises  of  peace,  set  about  to  fulfil  them 
to  their  great  despair.  It  was  said  that  he  had  surren- 
dered his  rights  over  Sicily  to  Charles  of  Naples.  Then 
Constance,  the  mother  of  Frederick,  having  summoned  a 
parliament  of  the  chief  men  of  the  island,  resolved  to  send 
legates  to  James  to  learn  the  truth  of  these  reports  and  to 
dissuade  him  from  ceding  his  rights.  These  who  were 
sent  were  Catalio  Rusto,  Sartorio  Bisala,  and  Hugh 
Calac.  They  represented  not  only  Constance,  but  all 


142  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Sicily.59  When  they  arrived  at  Barbera  in  Catalonia  on 
the  29th  of  October,60  they  found  things  just  as  they  had 
been  reported  in  Sicily;  they  were  even  witnesses  of  how 
solemnly  peace  was  proclaimed  between  Charles  and 
James;  and  they  saw  Blanche  led  as  a  spouse  to  him  by 
the  two  legates  of  Boniface,  as  William  Cardinal  of  St. 
Clement,  whom  the  Pope  had  designated  to  accompany 
the  betrothed,  had  died  on  the  way.  Great  was  the  grief 
which  seized  the  Sicilian  ambassadors;  and  going  before 
James,  in  the  most  forcible  and  eloquent  manner  they 
strove  to  dissuade  him  from  his  purpose,  because  his  re- 
nunciation of  Sicily  would  cast  them  headlong  into  the 
arms  of  the  detested  French.  But  although  James  was 
affected  by  their  words,  he  remained  faithful  to  the  prom- 
ised peace,  and  with  kind  words  he  dismissed  the  legates. 
Driven  to  desperation,  they  burst  into  tears  and  wailings, 
tearing  their  garments  in  token  of  their  unmeasured 
grief;  and  in  presence  of  the  entire  court  of  Aragon  they 
solemnly  declared  that  they  would  consider  themselves 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  James,  and  free  to  create 
any  king  they  pleased.  They  did  not  wish  to  depart  before 
James  had  given  them  in  writing  his  renunciation,  less  as 
a  document  of  the  fact,  than  a  marvel  for  posterity.  For 
they  could  not  understand  how  James,  called  by  them  to 
rule  over  Sicily,  now  could  so  cruelly  abandon  them  to 
their  enemies.  And  with  this  document  they  departed. 
On  the  journey  they  showed  their  anguish  in  other  ways. 
They  put  on  long  trailing  garments  of  mourning,  and 
they  painted  black  the  masts  and  the  sails  of  the  ship  on 
which  they  sailed,  that  it  might  be  apparent  to  every  one 
that  they  were  the  bearers  of  sad  news.61 

The  Sicilians,  assured  of  the  truth  of  the  concluded 
peace,  and  the  surrender  of  James  of  Aragon  of  his  rights 
over  Sicily  into  the  hands  of  the  Pontiff,  the  direct  lord 
of  that  island,  as  appears  from  the  chronicles  of  the  time, 
expressed  their  surprise  and  complaints.  But  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  fact  was  agreeable  to  them ;  for 
being  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  Home  and  to  Charles 

*•  Franc.  Maurolyci.  Sicu  Hist.  lib.  IV  F.  apud  Burra;  Fazzelli  De 
rebus  Sicul.  lib.  XI  cap.  3  ibi.  *°Nic.  Speciale  Chron.  Sicil.  c.  52. 

41  Lucii  Marinei  Siculi  de  rebus  Hispaniae  lib.  XI,  apud  Andream  Scot- 
turn,  Frankfort  1630. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  143 

by  their  volition,  and  from  James  by  his  renunciation, 
they  felt  themselves  free  both  in  body  and  mind  to  estab- 
lish a  form  of  government,  which  born  of  the  people 
would  create  a  standard  of  justice  between  the  people 
and  the  prince,  as  a  regulator  for  the  monarchy  and  an 
assurance  of  the  prosperity  of  the  subjects.  The  proposi- 
tion was  not  displeasing  to  Frederick,  since  to  an  ardent 
and  ambitious  youth  the  viceroyalty  meant  little  whereas 
the  crown  meant  very  much,  even  if  offered  by  a  people 
rebellious  to  the  Holy  See.  Therefore  a  parliament  was 
held  in  Palermo,  where,  as  yet  timid,  because  of  the  un- 
certainty of  the  universal  choice,  the  Sicilian  raised  the 
cry  of  Frederick  as  lord  and  not  as  king  of  the  island. 
More  solemn  was  the  assembly  of  Catania  which  met  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Agatha,  where  not  only  the  syndics,  but 
also  the  chief  men  of  the  kingdom  united  in  consultation, 
with  one  voice  proclaimed  Frederick  king.62  Roger  Loria, 
and  Vinciguerra  Palizzi,  fiery  orators,  harrangued  them. 
They  would  recognize  in  the  people  the  right  of  selecting 
the  king,  and  to  justify  the  act,  they  did  not  disavow  the 
right  of  Rome,  affirming  that  James  could  resign  his  own 
right  over  Sicily  into  the  hands  of  the  Church,  but  that  he 
could  not  despoil  Frederick.  In  fact  James  did  not  resign 
the  crown  into  the  hands  of  the  Sicilians,  but  into  those 
of  Charles;  and  in  compensation  he  received  from  the 
French  king  the  provinces  of  Anjou  and  Forcalquer.63 
To  appear  more  reasonable  they  should  have  protested 
more  frankly,  and  have  said  that,  not  wishing  to  have  the 
sovereignty  of  Rome  represented  by  Charles  they  had  the 
right  to  elect  a  king. 

As  soon  as  Boniface  had  heard  of  the  acts  of  the  par- 
liament of  Palermo,  he  began  to  despair  of  bringing  the 
Sicilians  back  to  the  obedience  of  the  Church  by  mild 
and  peaceful  measures.  However,  though  he  could  have 
made  war,  aided  by  the  French  and  the  Aragonians,  yet 
he  suspended  hostilities  and  resorted  to  peaceful  ways. 
The  last  efforts,  which  were  also  to  prove  vain,  for  the 
reason  that  a  people  lately  out  of  servitude,  and  con- 
fident of  its  own  strength  and  valor,  will  not  allow  itself 
to  be  led.  The  open  wounds  inflicted  by  the  first  Charles 
were  still  bleeding,  and  the  intoxication  over  the  French 

«*Nich.  Special,  lib.  2  cap.  23 — Fazzel.  lib.  IX  c.  2.    "See  Document  Ii. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Vespers  was  still  clouding  their  minds.  It  is  true  that 
the  Sicilians  suffered  under  the  French,  and  their  anger 
and  abhorrence  of  their  government  were  just,  yet  it  was 
also  true  that  under  Boniface  the  same  rascality  would 
not  be  practised  with  impunity.  He  was  just  and  power- 
ful. On  a  former  occasion  complaints  hardly  listened  to 
in  the  papal  court  preceded  and  engendered  that  terrible 
revenge,  and  now  robbed  the  Sicilians  of  all  confidence 
in  Boniface.  The  Pontiff  knew  this,  and  in  order  to  dis- 
abuse their  minds  of  all  fear  of  a  foreign  tyrant,  he  pro- 
posed to  them  by  his  legate  Boniface  Calamandrano, 
Grand  Master  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  the  most  just 
conditions,  telling  them :  "  That  by  the  treaty  of  peace 
"with  James,  Sicily  was  returned  to  the  full  control  of 
"  the  Church ;  that  he,  Pope,  as  father  of  the  family  and 
"  lord,  wished  to  provide  for  their  safety ;  that  a  people 
without  a  ruler  could  not  subsist;  that  they  might  select 
"  from  the  college  of  Cardinals  one  whom  they  might 
"  think  was  most  fit  to  rule  over  them ;  and  that  he  would 
"  consent  to  their  choice."  No  Frenchman,  nor  any 
stranger  whosoever  was  in  question.  Boniface  wished 
the  Sicilians  to  be  under  Italian  rule.  It  was  better  to 
hold  the  reins  in  his  own  hands  than  transfer  them  to 
Charles;  nor  could  the  latter  complain  of  Boniface,  who 
owing  to  the  intolerance  of  Sicily,  wrhich  was  shaking  off 
the  Papal  yoke,  as  direct  lord  could  provide  measures 
against  it,  much  better  than  the  French  lord,  who  was  a 
vassal.  And  Boniface  reasoned  correctly.  For  already 
there  entered  deeply  into  his  mind  the  bad  faith  of  James 
contained  in  saying  to  the  Sicilian  legates,  that  he  left 
them  free  to  choose  the  king;  and  also  that  Frederick  was 
a  knight  and  knew  what  to  do.  And  it  was  better  for  the 
Sicilians  to  obey  the  Pope,  an  Italian,  than  an  Aragonian. 
For  if  the  Sicilians  had  been  cooler  headed,  they  could 
have  expelled  Charles,  breaking  the  bond  which  united 
Rome  with  Anjou;  and  in  expelling  the  French  they 
would  have  had  a  helper,  and  not  an  enemy  in  Boniface. 
The  events  which  happened  later  between  the  Pope  and 
Philip  the  Fair,  would  have  confirmed  Boniface  as  an 
ally ;  but  they  would  have  no  one  but  Frederick. 

In  the  strongest  manner,  but  with  weak  reasons,  Boni- 
face again  tried  to  persuade  Frederick  to  leave  Sicily. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  145 

He  returned  again  to  the  project  of  a  marriage  with 
Catherine,  the  titular  Empress  of  Constantinople.64  But 
Frederick  preferred  rather  to  retain  Sicily  than  undergo 
the  risk  of  an  uncertain  conquest ;  nor  did  Catherine  wish 
to  be  married  to  Frederick,  a  king  without  a  kingdom. 
Yet  Boniface  was  using  this  argument,  enforcing  it  with 
promises  of  aid  to  raise  Frederick  on  the  throne  of  Con- 
stantinople. But  Frederick  would  not  leave  nor  would 
Constance,  his  mother,  accede  to  the  wishes  of  the  Pope. 

The  promises  assured  in  the  letters  were  made  known  to 
the  people  of  Messina  by  Calamandrano  in  a  public  con- 
ference; and  then  he  unfolded  certain  parchments  all 
white,  and  provided  with  the  papal  seals,  saying  that  their 
every  desire,  immunity,  freedom  and  every  other  thing 
good  for  their  government  could  be  written  in  these,  be- 
cause the  Pope  would  hold  them  as  granted  and  sacredly 
valid.  But  their  minds  were  unalterably  intent  on 
Frederick,  and  were  trained  not  to  confide  in  the  Roman 
Court.  They  considered  those  promises  as  treacherous, 
and  they  rejected  them,  replying : — "  That  they  had 
already  created  Frederick  king,  and  the  coronation  only 
was  wanting,  which  would  soon  take  place."  And  Vinci- 
guerra  Palizzi,  and  Roger  of  Loria  electrified  the  crowd 
with  the  eloquence  of  tribunes.  At  the  same  moment 
Peter  Anselone  broke  through  the  ranks  with  naked  sword 
in  hand,  and  flourishing  it  in  the  face  of  the  legate,  who 
still  held  the  parchments  unrolled,  assailed  him  with  these 
words :  "  The  Sicilians  do  not  purchase  peace  with  paper, 
but  with  the  sword.  That  he  should  quickly  leave  the 
country  under  penalty  of  death."  The  Grand  Master  de- 
parted immediately,  not  wishing,  as  Speciale  relates  to 
suffer  martyrdom.65 

However,  although  the  embassy  had  failed  in  persuad- 
ing the  minds  of  the  Sicilians,  yet  the  effort  of  the  Grand 
Master  to  deprive  them  of  a  most  powerful  support,  namely 
that  valiant  naval  commander,  Roger  of  Loria,  was  not 
unsuccessful.  While  the  Sicilians  were  laboring  to  free 
themselves  from  the  papal  jurisdiction,  Roger,  by  his 
skill  and  power  made  himself  master  of  two  islands  lying 
along  the  African  coast,  and  directly  comprised  in  the 

M  Ep.  Raynaldus,  an.  2  n.  8. 

MXic.  Speciale,  cap.  14,  lib.  2 — Fazzello,  cap.  2, 


146  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

sovereignty  of  Tunis.  He  had  the  intention  of  keeping 
them  for  himself  and  his  descendants,  and  make  himself 
a  lord.  Yet  he  feared,  that  the  king  of  Sicily  might  covet 
them,  and  deprive  him  of  them.  Happily  he  had  recourse 
secretly  to  the  Pope.  He  besought  him  to  use  his  author- 
ity to  confirm  him  in  the  possession  of  that  territory,  and 
promised  in  return  to  raise  in  those  islands  churches  and 
altars  to  Christ.  There  could  not  have  come  to  Boniface 
a  more  favorable  opportunity  for  detaching  this  valiant 
captain  from  the  friendship  of  Frederick.  He  intrusted 
to  Calamandrano  a  letter  directed  to  Roger,  in  which  he 
expressed  his  satisfaction  over  the  conquest,  and  the  hope 
that  it  might  open  the  way  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
for  that  infidel  nation.  Willingly  with  the  fulness  of 
Apostolical  authority  he  grants  to  him  and  his  descen- 
dants the  possession  of  the  two  islands  with  full  jurisdic- 
tion; he  might  hold  them  as  a  fief  of  the  Roman  Church, 
for  which  he  would  pay  yearly  to  the  Roman  Curia  the 
sum  of  fifty  ounces  of  gold;  that  from  Calamandrano  he 
would  receive  the  investiture  of  the  fief,  and  to  the  same 
he  would  swear  fidelity  to  the  Roman  Church.  The  letter 
of  Boniface  attained  its  end,  for  Roger  thereupon  entered 
the  service  of  Charles  of  Naples. 

On  the  ember  days  in  December  of  the  first  year  of  his 
pontificate,  Baniface  created  six  cardinals.  It  is  true, 
that  the  mind  does  not  always  rise  to  the  high  dignity  of 
the  office,  especially  when  it  feels  itself  bound  by  the 
sweet  ties  of  blood  relationship.  But  the  fault  grows  less, 
if  in  the  bestowal  of  sacred  dignities  merit  is  united  with 
relationship ;  and  this  is  precisely  what  we  must  maintain 
in  regard  to  Boniface.  Among  the  six  honored  with  the 
cardinals  we  find  two  of  the  Gaetani  family,  and  one 
Count  of  Segni,  a  cousin  of  the  Pope.  But  they  as  well 
as  the  others  were  remarkable  for  gifts  of  mind  and  heart. 
James  Thomas  Gaetani  of  Anagni,  his  nephew,  a  sister's 
son,  was  a  Friar  Minor,  and  Bishop  of  Alatri.66  He  was 
created  Cardinal  of  the  title  of  St.  Clement,  and  previ- 
ously exercised  the  office  of  legate  on  many  occasions, 
which  in  those  times  were  entrusted  only  to  those  most 
skilful  in  the  management  of  affairs.  He  showed  his 
great  love  for  art  by  embellishing  the  church  of  his  title 

*°  Wadding,  Aijnal.  Minor.  Tom  5  page  335. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  147 

with  most  beautiful  mosaics.67  Andrew,  of  the  Counts  of 
Segni,  great-grand-nephew  of  Alexander  IV,  was  pos- 
sessed of  such  sincere  and  profound  humility,  that  when 
the  honors  of  the  cardinalate  were  offered  to  him  he 
refused  them,  so  that  Conteloro  could  not  find  his  name  in 
the  series  of  cardinals.08  ,  Finally  Francis  Gaetani,  his 
nephew,  was  skilled  in  the  science  of  law,  and  of  great 
goodness  of  life,  one  who,  it  is  said,  assisted  in  the  com- 
pilation of  the  Sixth  of  the  Decretals,  and  whom  we  shall 
find  boldly  and  courageously  defending  the  innocence  of 
his  dead  uncle.  Honoratus  Gaetani,  of  the  ancient  Counts 
of  Fondi,  kept  his  memory  green  by  a  slab  which  he  placed 
in  the  portico  of  the  church  of  St.  Mary  in  Cosmedin, 
from  which  Francis  had  taken  his  title.69 

The  other  cardinals  created  by  Boniface  in  this  first 
year  of  his  pontificate  were  Francis  Napoleon  Orsini, 
Peter  Valeriano  Duraguerra  da  Piperno,  and  James 
Gaetani  Stephaneschi ;  they  were  of  equal  merit  and 
virtue  with  the  first  named.70  To  this  Stephaneschi, 
whom  some  have  erroneously  called  a  relative  of  Boni- 
face, we  are  indebted  for  memoirs  in  verse  that  he  had 
left  us  of  his  epoch  and  for  many  works  with  which  he 
charged  Giotto,  the  father  of  Renaissance  painting.  By 
his  order  Giotto  decorated  the  church  of  St.  George  in 
Velabro,71  from  which  he  took  his  title  as  Cardinal;  and 
having  written  the  life  of  St.  George,  he  had  the  same 
painter  beautifully  illuminate  his  book.  A  precious 
jewel,  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
Canons  of  St.  Peter.  Vasari  makes  no  mention  of  these 
works  of  Giotto. 

James  was  of  the  family  of  Stephaneschi  and  was  born 
in  the  Trastevere  quarter  of  Rome.72  He  wrote  three 

"Oldin.  Add.  ad  Ciaccon.  T.  2.  Page  323. 

68  Cardella.  History  of  the  Cardinals.  Tom.  2.  page  5 — Wadding  ibid. 

*Idem.  TOIdem.  "Ferriggio.  Kotti  Vatic,  p.  163. 

n  This  is  how  he  speaks  of  his  birth  and  his  works  in  certain  verses 
With  which  he  prefaces  his  work  on  the  life  of  St.  Peter  Celestine: 
"  Urbs  mihi  principium  generis :   Jacobus  mihi  nomen 
Cajetanus  erat;  fluvii  trans  Tiberis  amnem 
Stephanidem  de  stirpe  satus  producer  ab  Ursa. 
Murronem  cecini  repetentem  claustra  Monarcham, 
Insertumque  polo;   Bonifacius  utque  triumphet 
Urbe  sacra  diadema  ferens,  quo  Cardine  fultus 


148  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

poems  on  the  life  of  St.  Peter  Celestine,  his  canonization, 
and  on  the  coronation  of  Boniface  VIII.  He  had  great 
devotior  to  Saint  Celestine,  which  prompted  him  to  write 
these  verses,  Avhich  he  dedicated  to  the  Abbot  and  the 
monastery  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Celestine  order  near 
Snlmona.  As  we  read  in  his  letter  of  dedication,  he  did 
not  wish  his  manuscript  to  be  corrected  by  a  strange  hand, 
promising,  that  when  he  had  time  he  would  himself  purge 
it  of  all  faults ;  and  he  desired  that  it  should  be  perpetually 
preserved  in  that  monastery.  These  verses  are  preceded  by 
a  summary  of  the  subjects  treated  in  the  poem,  and  fol- 
lowed by  the  office  of  the  Saint  which  he  had  also  com- 
posed. Although  he  called  the  manuscript  sent  to  the 
Celestines  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the  original,  yet  we  can  not 
bring  ourselves  to  believe  that  it  was  the  autograph  but 
a  copy;  for  we  find  the  characters  so  greatly  marred  by 
faults,  that  it  is  impossible  in  many  places  to  understand 
the  sense.  The  same  injury  was  done  to  all  the  other 
writings  of  Stephaneschi.  Daniel  Papebroch  published 
these  three  poems  in  the  grand  collection  of  the  Bollan- 
dists,  having  had  at  hand  the  manuscript  of  the  monas- 
tery of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  another  of  the  Vatican. 
Muratori  reproduced  them  in  the  Lives  of  the  Pontiffs,73 
but  he  did  not  correct  the  verses  of  Stephaneschi,  nor 
make  the  sense  clear.  We  are  sure  these  two  worthy  men 
could  have  improved  these  editions,  if  they  had  in  their 
possession  a  third  manuscript  which  Labbe  calls  the 
Naudean,  and  which  he  places  among  the  manuscripts  of 
Paris.74 

Stephaneschi  also  wrote  a  prose  work  on  the  jubilee  of 
Boniface  VIII,  followed  by  two  short  poems,  which  Julius 
Rosea  first  published  and  annotated;  it  afterwards  was 
reprinted  by  the  Doctors  of  Cologne  in  the  grand  col- 
lection of  the  Fathers,75  both  in  the  Cologne  edition  and 
that  of  Lyons.76  Among  the  Roman  "  Ordo,"  published 
by  Mabillon,77  he  places  a  treatise  on  the  ceremonies  of 
the  Roman  Church  divided  into  one  hundred  and  eighteen 

Hunc  panxi ;  Coloque  patrem  metroque 

Centeno,  fudique  prosa.     Deus  hinc  tibi  Laus  est." 

Vide.  Bollandista.  Maji  Tom.  V,  p.  436. — 

n  S.  R.  I.  torn.  3.  T*  Catalog.  Biblio,  M.  S.  S.  p.  236. 

n  Tome  XIII.       »  Tom.  XXV.       "  Musei  Italic!  T.  2,  Ordo  XIV,  p.  241. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

chapters,  and  with  a  reasonable  foundation  he  attributes 
the  work  to  James  Gaetani  Stephaneschi,  and  does  not 
hesitate  to  place  his  name  as  the  author  on  the  title  page. 

The  three  poems  on  the  life  and  canonization  of  St. 
Peter  Celestine,  and  on  the  coronation  of  Boniface  VIII, 
are  precious  documents  which  relate  the  history  of  those 
events  of  wrhich  Stephaneschi  was  an  eye-witness.  In 
them  there  is  great  liberty  of  detail,  especially  in  matters 
relating  to  Peter  Celestine.  For  although  Stephaneschi 
shows  himself  most  devoted  to  him,  yet  when  he  touches 
on  the  evil  which  accrued  to  the  Church  from  his  inex- 
perience, he  speaks  very  openly.  Owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  the  metre,  and  to  the  errors  of  those  handling  them, 
there  is  much  obscurity  in  his  verses ;  but  we  are  surprised 
that  it  does  not  disappear  in  prose  writings;  as  a  result 
the  treatise  on  the  Jubilee  in  many  places  is  rather  an 
enigma  than  a  narrative. 

James  Stephaneschi  died  at  a  very  old  age  in  Avignon 
in  the  year  1341.  His  body  was  brought  to  Rome  where 
it  was  interred  in  the  Vatican  Basilica  in  the  chapel  of 
Sts.  George  and  Lawrence  which  he  had  built. 

Boniface  intended  also  in  the  first  year  of  his  pon- 
tificate to  increase  the  divine  worship.  Head  of  the  relig- 
ion of  Jesus  Christ,  and  possessed  of  a  spirit  so  noble  as 
to  comprehend  fully  what  religion  is,  the  only  fructifier 
of  human  genius  and  the  mother  of  every  holy  affection; 
so,  being  placed  so  high  he  could  not  remove  from  his 
mind  those  most  distinguished  souls  who  made  their  minds 
and  their  eloquence  a  foundation  as  it  were  of  the  Church. 
Worship  was  given  in  the  Church  to  the  Apostles,  the 
Evangelists  and  to  the  four  Doctors,  Ambrose,  Augustine, 
Jerome  and  Gregory  the  Great,  but  Boniface  wished  to  in- 
crease this  with  particular  honors.  For  it  did  not  seem 
ever  sufficient,  the  honor  the  faithful  could  pay  to  the 
Apostles,  the  first  preachers  of  the  divine  word  which 
renewed  the  face  of  the  earth,  to  the  Evangelists  the  first 
writers  of  it,  and  to  those  Fathers  the  great  priests  of  the 
divine  traditions.  Seated  on  the  chair  of  Peter  he  felt 
beneath  him  a  certain  immovability,  which  was  not  owing 
to  human  vigor  and  strength,  for  he  knew  that  the  Apos- 
tles and  Fathers  were  the  holy  foundations,  and  the  sup- 
ports of  the  divine  edifice.  Wherefore  he  published  a 


150  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

decree  to  all  the  faithful,  directed  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims  and  his  suffragans,  in  which  he  ordered  to  be 
celebrated  with  the  most  solemn  rites  the  feasts  of  the 
Holy  Apostles,  the  Evangelists,  and  the  four  greatest 
Doctors,  Ambrose,  Augustine,  Jerome,  and  Gregory  the 
Great,  two  of  whom  were  Italians.  How  beautiful  are 
his  words :  "  The  splendid  and  salutary  teachings  of  these 
"  most  illustrious  Doctors  have  illustrated  the  Church, 
"  have  adorned  it  with  virtue,  and  have  formed  the  man- 
"  ners  of  her  children.  Moreover  by  them,  as  luminous 
and  shining  lights  on  candelabra  in  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
"  the  darkness  of  error  having  been  dissipated,  and  entire 
"  body  of  the  Church  sparkles  like  the  morning  star. 
"  Moreover  their  rich  eloquence,  watered  by  a  spring  of 
heavenly  grace,  discloses  the  mysteries  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
"  tures,  loosens  the  knots,  dispels  obscurities,  and  solves 
"  the  doubts.  And  by  their  profound  and  magnificent  dis- 
"  courses  the  grand  edifice  of  the  Church  is  resplendent 
"  as  with  glowing  gems,  and  by  the  singular  charm  of 
"  their  words  she  is  exalted  and  shines  with  new  glory."  78 

78 "  Horum  quippe  Doctorum  Praelucida  et  salutaria  documenta  praedic- 
tam  illustrarunt  Ecclesiam,  decorarunt  virtutibus,  et  moribus  informarunt. 
Per  ipsos  praeterea,  quasi  luminosaa  ardenteaque  luncernas  super  candela- 
brum, in  domo  Domini  positas  errorum  tenebris  profligatis,  totius  corporia 
Ecclesiae  tanquam  sydus  irradiat  matutinum;  eorum  etiam  foecunda 
facundia  coelestis  irrigui  gratia  influente,  scripturarum  enigmata  reserat, 
decoris  eorum  sermonibus  ampla  ipsius  Ecclesiae  fabriea  velut  gemmia 
solvit  nodos,  obscura  dilucidat  dubiaque  declarat.  Profoundis  quoque  ac 
vernantibus  rutilat."  Rayn.  1295-55. 


BOOK  THIRD. 

SUMMARY. 

1296-1297. 

The  coronation  of  Frederick  in  Palermo. — Boniface  excommunicates  him. 
— And  creates  James  of  Aragon  Gonfalonier  of  Holy  Church  to  com- 
bat him. — The  commotions  in  Sicily  influence  those  in  the  Romagna. — 
Boniface  wishes  to  pacify  the  latter. — He  aids  Guy  of  Montefeltro  to 
become  a  Friar. — At  the  same  time  Louis,  son  of  Charles  the  Lame, 
becomes  a  Friar  also. — Pisa  entrusts  her  government  to  Boniface. — He 
becomes  the  mediator  between  Genoa  and  Venice. — He  writes  to  the 
legates  in  England,  to  Philip,  and  to  Adolph. — Haughty  reply  of 
Philip. — -Affairs  of  the  church  of  Pamiers. — Boniface  makes  the  city  a 
Bishopric,  and  founds  an  academy  there. — The  layman  grieve  the 
Church. — The  famous  constitution  "  Clericis  Laicos." — It  was  neither 
new  nor  abusive. — 'Philip  rages  and  publishes  an  impertinent  edict. — 
The  paternal  Bull  with  which  Boniface  opposes  it. — The  constitution  is 
received  in  England;  firmness  of  the  English  clergy. — The  Fraticelli, 
and  their  origin. — Causes  of  their  strifes  with  the  Popes  and  especially 
with  Boniface. — Jacopone  da  Todi. — Sicily;  and  the  methods  adopted 
by  James  to  make  Frederick  leave. — Treaty  which  James  made  with 
Boniface. — The  Roman  Patricians. — The  Colonnas  and  their  family. — 
How  they  became  enemies  of  Boniface. — The  Brigandage  of  Sciarra 
Colonna. — Rebellion  of  the  Colonnas;  and  threats  of  Boniface. — They 
spread  the  famous  libel  against  him. — Its  effect. — The  Bull  "  Lapis 
abscissus  "  is  hurled  against  them. — They  reply  with  new  insolence. — • 
Arms  are  taken  up. — Messages  of  the  Roman  people  to  Boniface,  and 
his  reply. — Crusade  against  the  Colonnas. — Boniface  clothes  the  cardi- 
nals in  purple. — -He  canonizes  Louis  IX  of  France. 

WHEN  the  Sicilians  had  violently  expelled  Calamandro, 
the  papal  envoy,  it  closed  the  way  to  all  agreement,  and 
by  destroying  the  hopes  of  Boniface  those  of  all  Sicily 
were  revived.  The  whole  island  was  agitated  as  on  a  feast 
day,  and  in  the  transports  of  a  liberty  which  made  them 
forgetful  of  the  wounds  of  the  French  tyranny,  they 
raised  to  the  throne  the  young  Frederick,  darling  son  of 
the  beautiful  Constance.  They  had  seen  how  a  sceptre 
was  obtained  by  conquest  or  by  inheritance,  how  it  was 

151 


152  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

placed  in  the  hand  of  a  prince  by  Papal  investiture,  but 
as  yet  they  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  take  a  crown 
themselves  and  place  it  on  the  head  of  a  king  of  their  own 
creation.  On  the  25th  of  March  they  had  experience  of 
this;  and  accordingly  the  religious  and  civil  ceremonies 
were  carried  out  with  incredible  pomp.  Frederick  was 
anointed  and  crowned  king  in  the  cathedral  of  Palermo. 
He  afterwards  rode  through  the  city  holding  a  globe  and 
sceptre  in  his  hands.  It  seemed  that  no  other  prince  as- 
cended the  throne  with  a  greater  desire  of  the  people  than 
he.  Favors  and  civil  ordinances  followed  the  fetes.  The 
former  were  most  beautiful,  because  they  were  distributed 
by  a  new  prince;  the  latter  were  wise,  because  they  were 
sanctioned  by  the  people  who  raised  him  to  the  height  of 
the  throne.1  The  division  of  the  power  between  the  king 
and  an  annual  parliament  in  which  all  the  orders  of  the 
kingdom  were  represented  was  agreeable  to  the  people,  who 
submitted  willingly  to  the  laws.  Charles  II  and  the  Pope 
had  much  to  fear  from  this  king,  who  safe  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Sicily  might  cast  yearning  eyes  on  the  Neapolitan 
territory,  and  might  hope  to  bring  it  under  his  authority 
less  by  force  of  arms,  than  by  the  allurement  of  a  new 
government.  Frederick  set  out  immediately  for  Reggio 
and  was  threatening  Calabria. 

It  seems  that  the  brandishing  of  the  sword  in  the  face 
of  the  ambassador,  the  bearer  of  peaceful  proposals;  the 
pointing  of  it  at  his  loins,  and  his  rude  expulsion,  had 
always  been  considered,  and  for  that  reason,  even  in  the 
XIII  century,  a  crime  against  the  rights  of  nations.  For 
which  reason  Boniface,  seeing  that  all  hopes  of  peace  had 
vanished,  resolved  upon  adopting  severe  measures.  In 
this  he  was  urged  on  by  the  actions  of  Frederick  with  the 
Ghibellines  of  Tuscany,  of  Lombardy,  and  certain  of  his 
envoys  who  were  secretly  roaming  through  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  exciting  the  people  to  rebellion,  and  to  oppose 
these  he  dispatched  Cardinal  Landolph  to  Naples.2  So  on 
Ascension  day  he  wrote  and  proclaimed  in  the  Basilica 
of  St.  Peter  a  solemn  admonition  against  Frederick. 
After  calling  attention  to  the  censures  hurled  against 
Peter  of  Aragon,  and  his  abettors  in  Sicily  by  Popes 

1  Nic.  Special,  lib.  3,  c.  1 — Anonym.  Chron.  Sie.  e.  54. 
zRaynaldus.  ad  annum  1296,  n.  20. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  153 

Martin,  Honorius,  and  Nicholas,  the  treaties  made  with 
James,  and  the  insolent  expulsion  of  his  legate,  he  con- 
demns the  coronation  of  Frederick,  and  his  hostile  in- 
trigues with  the  enemies  of  the  Church;  he  annuls  the 
acts  of  the  new  government;  he  commands  him  to  lay 
aside  the  sceptre,  and  immediately  to  refrain  from  exer- 
cising the  office  of  king ;  he  fixes  as  a  peremptory  limit  the 
octave  of  the  feast  of  the  Apostles,  which  having  expired, 
Frederick  and  the  Sicilians,  if  contumacious,  will  incur 
solemn  excommunication;  he  forbids  anybody  to  league 
with  them ; 3  and  deprives  them  of  every  privilege  and 
right  granted  to  them  by  the  Holy  See.  The  admonitions 
were  of  no  avail.  Boniface  on  the  feast  of  the  Dedication 
of  the  Vatican  Basilica  hurled  against  Sicily  the  threat- 
ened censures.4 

(1297)  Force  of  arms  was  necessary,  because  the  Sicil- 
ians felt  no  remorse;  they  even  set  about  vigorously  to 
make  war  on  the  Neapolitan  territory.  Frederick  was 
leader  of  the  army,  and  Roger  of  Loria  of  the  navy.  Suc- 
cess attended  them.  Squillace  was  taken  by  force,  Catan- 
zari  surrendered  conditionally,  and  Cotrone  and  other 
places  being  captured  were  plundered.5  Boniface,  before 
the  oronation  of  Frederick,  had  already  turned  to  king 
James  by  letters  of  the  20th  of  January,  sending  as  legate 
to  him,  Leonard,  a  Franciscan  Friar,  to  remind  him  of  the 
benefits  he  had  received  from  the  Roman  See,  of  his  duty 
to  assist  her,  and  invited  him  to  come  immediately  to 
Rome.  And  sixteen  days  having  scarcely  elapsed  on  the 
5th  of  February,  he  addressed  another  letter  to  James,6 
creating  him  standard-bearer  of  Holy  Church,  and  sov- 
ereign defender  of  the  same  Church  against  her  enemies. 
The  letter  begins  "  Redemptor  Mundi,"  and  mentions  the 
conditions  on  which  the  Pope  confers  the  high  office  on 
the  king  of  Aragon.  And  whereas  the  chief  enemies  were 
the  Turks,  who  were  overrunning  the  Holy  Land,  the  king 
was  particularly  appointed  against  these.  There  is  no 
mention  of  the  Sicilians,  because  up  to  February  the  coro- 
nation of  Frederick  had  not  taken  place,  but  it  is  to  be  un- 
derstood that  it  was  against  them  that  James  was  to  set 
about  to  put  his  fleet  on  a  war  footing  well  provided  with 

•Rayn.  1294.  14.  lib.  2  epist.  37.  *Rayn.  15.  lib.  2  epist.  100. 

•Nic.  Spec.  lib.  IX  cap.  3.  "Rayn.  ad  annum  1294,  19. 


154  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

arms  and  men  and  military  stores  sufficient  for  fully 
sixty  galleys,  the  Church  was  to  pay  as  much  money  as 
was  sufficient  for  the  armament  and  maintenence  of  the 
vessels :  the  supreme  commander  was  to  be  James,  who  at 
the  beck  of  the  Pope  was  to  be  ready  to  move  against 
the  Turks,  or  any  other  enemies  and  rebels  of  the  Church ; 
the  spoils  taken  from  the  enemy  were  to  be  divided  into 
two  parts,  one  to  be  given  to  the  King,  and  the  other  to 
remain  in  the  custody  of  the  Pope  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Holy  Land ;  the  territory  to  be  conquered,  if  it  previously 
belonged  to  a  Catholic  prince,  was  to  be  restored  to  him, 
but  if  to  an  infidel  it  was  to  remain  in  custody  of  the 
Church  until  the  Pope  disposed  of  it ;  the  tithes  of  Aragon 
for  three  years  were  to  be  given  to  the  King  if  he  re- 
sponded to  the  call  to  wage  war  for  the  Holy  See ;  and  his 
states  during  his  absence  in  the  service  of  the  same,  were 
to  remain  under  the  protection  of  St.  Peter.  These  were 
the  chief  conditions  under  which  Boniface  appointed 
James  to  the  office  of  Standard-bearer  of  the  Holy  Church. 
He  followed  this  up  with  a  letter  dated  the  5th  of  Febru- 
ary, in  which  he  urges  him  strongly  to  come.  But  James 
did  not  come  for  a  year  after.  In  the  meanwhile  Boniface 
was  doubting  of  his  faith.  Then  he  urged  Charles  to  the 
defence;  he  was  willing,  but  powerless  owing  to  the  lack 
of  money,  as  he  had  spent  so  much  in  purchasing  peace 
from  James.  But  Boniface  came  to  his  assistance  man- 
fully. He  filled  his  treasury  with  five  thousand  ounces  of 
gold,7  and  as  he  was  about  to  wage  war  against  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Church,  he  granted  him  the  privilege  of  col- 
lecting subsidies  from  the  sacred  patrimonies  without  the 
papal  permission.8  He  commanded  the  bishop  of  Mar- 
seilles to  aid  Charles  by  the  ecclesiastical  tithes  to  form  a 
navy. 

These  commotions  in  Sicily  were  incentives  to  the  dis- 
sensions prevailing  in  the  Italian  mainland.  The  cities 
and  people  were  divided  into  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  and 
the  rise  or  decline  of  the  French  royalists  in  Italy  was  a 
grave  cause  of  agitation,  as  the  house  of  Anjou  was  at  that 
time  the  heart  and  support  of  Guelphisin,  since  the  Popes, 
either  because  of  their  love  for  France,  or  because  of  lax- 
ity of  spirit,  allowed  the  control  of  the  Guelph  party  to 

7  Lib.  2  ep.  18  Rayn.  15.  8Rayn.  lib.  2  epist.  576. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  155 

pass  from  their  hands.  As  we  have  seen  before,  William 
Durant  was  Count  of  Romagna,  being  appointed  governor 
of  that  province  and  of  the  Marches  by  Boniface.  And 
when  in  the  year  previous  he  undertook  the  government 
of  those  regions,  Azzo  VIII,  Marquis  of  Este,  through  am- 
bitious motives  enkindled  more  intensely  the  fire  of  dissen- 
sion between  the  opposing  factions.  This  proud  lord 
wanted  to  make  himself  master  of  Parma,  wrhich  in  Decem- 
ber had  been  the  theatre  of  intestine  strifes.  He  welcomed 
the  return  of  the  banished  Sanvitale,  that  he  might  have 
an  occasion  for  invading  their  native  country.  Parma 
resisted  him,  aided  by  Milan,  Bologna,  and  the  lord  of 
Piacenza,  Albert  Scotto.  In  this  year  as  the  Parmesans 
and  the  Bolognese  wrere  fortifying  themselves,  having  as 
allies  the  people  of  Brescia,  and  the  exiles  of  Reggio  and 
Modena,9  so  Azzo  VIII  turns  for  assistance  to  the  Ghibel- 
lines  of  the  Romagna.  He  gathered  about  him  the  most 
powerful  Ghibellines  in  these  provinces.  Maghinardo  da 
Susiana  with  the  men  from  Faenza;  Scarpetta  Ordelaffi, 
with  these  from  Forli  and  Cesena;  and  the  famous  Uguc- 
cione  of  Faggiuola  with  all  the  Ghibellines  banished  from 
Bologna,  Rimini,  Ravenna,  and  other  cities.  These  men 
assembled  in  council  with  Este  at  Argenta,  and  decided 
to  take  Imola  from  Bologna.10  As  soon  as  Durant,  Count 
of  Romagna,  heard  of  that  intention  he  called  the  Bolog- 
nese to  arms ;  but  having  encountered  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Santerno  the  hostile  Ghibellines  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Azzo,  the  latter  were  victorious  and  took  posses- 
sion of  Imola.11  In  April  of  the  same  year,  William  Du- 
rant, as  a  punishment  for  their  going  in  league  with  the 
Ghibelline  Azzo  of  Ferrara,  deprived  the  cities  of  Cesena, 
Forli,  Faenza  and  Imola,  of  all  their  privileges,  honors 
and  dignities.  A  weak  and  senseless  revenge  which  did 
not  indeed  calm,  but  rather  embittered  their  feelings  the 
more. 

Pope  Boniface  tried  another  way  to  put  an  end  to  these 
tragic  scandals.  He  would  obtain  peace  without  resort- 
ing to  war.  He  would  have  each  one  state  his  case  to  a 
judge,  whose  decision  would  take  the  place  of  victorious 
battles  and  stifled  revenge.  Anyone  who  studies  those 

"Chron.  Parmen.  S.  R.  I.  torn.  9.  MChron.  Esten.  ib, 

"Mat.  de  Griff,  Annal.  Bonon.  T.  18  S.  R.  I.— Cfer,  Fgroliv.  T.  22, 


HISTORY   OP.   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

times,  and  preceives  that  confidence  was  wanting  every- 
where, will  admit,  that  Boniface,  on  account  of  his  wis- 
dom and  by  reason  of  the  office  of  Pontiff  which  he  exer- 
cised, and  because  he  alone  was  revered  and  respected,  was 
the  only  one  capable  to  preside  as  judge  over  these  stormy 
suits.  The  sequence  of  this  history  will  prove  this  better. 
Therefore  with  a  peaceful  pacifying  intention,  whilst  af- 
fairs, as  we  have  said,  were  in  a  badly  disturbed  state  in 
the  territory  between  Rimini  and  Parma,  he  appointed  as 
peacemaker  the  bishop  of  Pavia  and  wrote  letters  to  Guy 
of  Montefeltro  the  most  influential  man  in  the  Ghibelline 
party,  urging  him  to  appear  with  other  nobles  before  the 
Papal  curia,  that  they  might  come  to  a  friendly  under- 
standing in  those  things  which  caused  such  dissensions 
between  the  two  parties.12 

Guy  had  previously  submitted  to  Celestine  and  Boni- 
face that  he  might  be  absolved  from  censures,  and  now 
tired  of  the  adventures  of  war,  weakened  by  old  age,  he 
was  engaged  with  the  thought  of  death,  and  wished  to 
make  a  solemn  expiation  of  his  sins.  Guy  betook  himself 
to  Boniface:  instead  of  treating  of  the  affairs  for  which 
he  was  summoned,  he  confessed  to  him  that  he  came  for  no 
other  purpose  but  that  of  his  soul ;  that  he  heard  a  voice 
deep  in  his  heart  which  was  calling  on  him  to  become 
either  a  knight  in  some  military  order  or  a  Franciscan 
Friar;  and  he,  that  terrible  Ghibelline,  humbly  besought 
Boniface  to  give  him  spiritual  direction.  This  scene  was  a 
beautiful  subject  for  an  artist's  pencil.  The  Pope  gra- 
ciously complied  with  the  desire  of  Guy  and  favored  it, 
not  only  as  the  pious  resolution  of  a  converted  sinner,  but 
also  as  a  means  that  would  well  contribute  to  bring  about 
peace  in  his  provinces.  He  replied,  that  he  would  assist 
him  whether  he  wished  to  be  a  friar,  or  a  knight.  But 
afterwards  on  reflection,  thinking  that  to  hold  that  energy 
there  would  be  needed  well-tempered  steel,  he  would  ad- 
vise him  to  choose  the  rough  habit  of  St.  Francis  rather 
than  the  sword  of  a  knight.  Guy  consenting,  he  wrote  a 

a  Lib.  2.  Ep.  I  " Ut  te  ac  aliis  nobilibus  personis  hujus- 

modi  in  curia  nostra  praesentibus,  nos  per  te  ac  illos,  de  praedictarum 
partium  conditionibus  informati,  tractare,  ordinare,  disponere,  et  provi- 
dere  possimus  ea,  quae  ad  vestrum  et  aliorum  ipsarum  partium  bona, 
statum,  tranquillitatein  et  pacem  viderimus  expedire." 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  157 

letter  to  the  Minister  of  the  Friars  Minor  of  the  province 
of  Ancona,  telling  him  that  his  noble  and  beloved  son  Guy, 
Count  of  Montefeltro,  touched  by  the  hand  of  God,  and 
repentant  of  all  the  evil  done  to  Mother  Church,  had  ex- 
pressed the  desire  of  doing  penance,  and  dying  among  the 
friars  in  holy  service,  his  wife  consenting,  who  would  also 
take  herself  a  vow  of  chastity.  He  then  arranged  that 
after  taking  their  vows  together,  they  would  also  make 
their  solemn  act  of  separation.  Of  movable  property  Guy 
would  take  some  to  reward  his  courtiers;  of  the  immovable 
goods  there  would  be  assigned  an  annual  stipend  of  one 
hundred  lire  of  Kavenna  for  the  support  of  his  wife,  who 
on  account  of  old  age  was  allowed  to  remain  at  home  and 
not  enter  a  convent;  and  what  remained  of  his  wealth, 
was  to  be  entrusted  to  an  honest  person  and  kept  in  a  safe 
place,  until  the  Pope  would  provide  as  to  its  use.13  Guy 
became  a  friar  in  the  monastery  of  Ancona,  and  after  two 
years  of  a  most  edifying  life  of  prayer  and  good  works,  he 
rendered  his  soul  unto  God.14  Such  was  the  end  of  Guy,  a 
man,  to  use  the  words  of  the  chronicle  of  Asti,  the  most 
wise  of  men,  brave,  generous,  most  skilful  in  war,  and 
who  had  not  his  equal  in  that  he  entered  among  the 
Franciscan  friars.15 

Another  person  of  distinction  in  this  same  year  also 
wished  to  become  a  Friar  of  St.  Francis,  If  he  was  not 
famous  for  great  deeds  like  Guy,  he  was  illustrious  by  the 
splendor  of  his  birth.  This  was  Louis,  son  of  Charles  the 
Lame,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  a  hostage  in  Catal- 
onia with  two  other  brothers.  As  he  was  returning  with 
his  father  from  Catalonia  after  peace  was  concluded  with 
James,  he  expressed  the  wish  to  lead  the  life  of  a  Friar 
Minor.  Passing  through  Montpellier,  he  first  made  known 
his  desire  to  the  friars  there.  Bnt  they  refused  to  gratify 
him,  fearing  that  if  they  received  him  and  invested  him  in 
the  holy  habit  they  would  incur  the  displeasure  of  his 
father.  When  he  arrived  in  Italy  he  met  his  mother, 

13  Ep.  Bon.  Ministro  prov.  Ord.  Min.  Marchiae  apud  Wading  T.  X,  p.  349. 

"Epist.  Bonif.  apud  Wading. 

a  Chron.  Asten.  cap.  23,  S.  R.  I.  T.  XI  col.  189.  "  Sapientissimus  vir- 

orum  fortis  et  largus,  et  callidissimus  in  bellando 

poenitentia  ductus,  humilis  et  contritus,  de  quo  vere  dici  potest:  non  est 
incentus  similis  illi:  ordincm  Fratrum  Minorum  intravit." 


158 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


Mary  of  Hungary,  with  her  other  son,  Charles  Martel,  and, 
as  she  had  not  seen  him  for  a  long  time,  with  a  heart  full 
of  joy  and  by  the  impulse  of  maternal  love  she  threw  her 
arms  around  his  neck  to  embrace  and  kiss  him.  But  the 
holy  youth,  most  careful  of  his  purity,  turned  his  face 
away  refusing  to  be  kissed.  Astonished  at  his  conduct 
his  mother  asked :  "  What  could  there  be  sinful  in  that 
embrace?  "  With  bowed  head  and  his  face  suffused  with 
blushes,  he  replied :  "  I  know  very  well  you  are  my  mother, 
"  but  moreover  you  are  a  woman,  whom  a  servant  of  God 
"  is  not  allowed  to  kiss." — He  was  enrolled  among  the 
clerics,  and  raised  to  the  subdiaconate  at  Rome;  after- 
wards he  was  ordained  deacon  and  priest  at  Naples  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Lawrence  Major.  He  dwelt  in  a  suburban 
monastery  with  the  Friars  Minor,  applying  his  mind  to 
spiritual  things  and  the  acquisition  of  ecclesiastical  sci- 
ences, until,  the  see  of  Toulouse  having  become  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Hugh  Mascerio,  Boniface  knowing  Louis  to 
be  of  mature  judgment  and  sense,  appointed  him  the 
Bishop  of  that  see.  The  royal  youth  would  not  accept  the 
office  unless  he  was  allowed  to  wear  the  habit  of  St. 
Francis.  The  privilege  was  granted,  and  he  was  conse- 
crated bishop  by  Boniface,  being  at  the  most  twenty  years 
old.16  St.  Antoninus  narrates  his  virtues  while  bishop, 
which  were  great  and  many,17  though  of  short  duration,  as 
the  holy  young  man  died  two  years  afterwards. 

On  April  17th,  the  Pope  sent  Peter  Cardinal  of  St. 
Maria  Nuova,  with  full  authority  to  readjust  affairs  in  the 
Italian  provinces,  and  aid  the  efforts  of  the  Bishop  of 
Pavia,  sent  on  the  same  errand  in  January.18  These  cares 
of  Boniface,  and  the  departure  of  Guy  of  Montefeltro,  the 
commander  of  their  armies,  induced  the  Pisans,  as  the 
Guelph  party  was  in  the  ascendancy,  to  place  all  their 
confidence  in  the  Pope:  a  sure  sign  of  the  certainty  they 
had  of  the  honesty  of  his  mind.  And  although  inflicted 
with  censures  by  him  for  the  irreverent  things  done  to 
the  churches,  yet  they  did  not  hesitate  to  entrust  the  gov- 
ernment of  their  city  to  Boniface,  proffering  him  four 
thousand  livres  of  gold  wherewith  to  pay  the  magistrates 
he  might  appoint.  To  an  ambitious  man  and  one  covetous 

16  Wading.  Annal.  Minor,  ?.d  annum  1290  n.  IV.  V.  VI. 

"Chron.  3,  p.  585.  24,  cap.  4.  >8Lib.  2.  Epist.  43.  Rayn.  1. 


HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  159 

of  the  property  of  others,  these  offers  would  not  have  been 
made.  Boniface  absolved  the  Pisans  from  censures  and 
accepted  the  care  of  governing  their  city.  As  his  vicar  in 
the  government  of  Pisa,  he  appointed  Elias,19  Count  of  Val 
d'Elsa.  He  ordained  that  he  should  repair  to  the  city  and 
begin  his  office  of  governing  it  in  September,  which  office 
he  would  hold  for  a  year.  His  salary  was  to  be  four  thou- 
sand livres.  He  was  allowed  to  maintain  with  him  four 
soldiers,  as  many  judges,  and  twelve  horses,  of  which  at 
least  six  should  be  war  horses.  He  urged  him  to  use  pru- 
dence, that  he  might  be  successful  in  governing.  The  pro- 
vost of  Venza  accompanied  the  Count  in  order  to  absolve 
the  Pisans  from  the  interdict,  and  receive  the  five  hundred 
marks  in  reparation  for  their  office. 

Venice  was  born  a  mature  republic,  and  for  that  reason 
she  had  escaped  those  foolish  party  contests  of  the  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines,  a  sure  sign  of  civilization  being  in  its  in- 
fancy among  people  who  practised  them.  But  firmly  es- 
tablished by  reason  of  a  strong  republican  constitution,  it 
was  Guelph  in  principle,  and  like  every  other  Italian  peo- 
ple jealous  of  its  independence,  was  a  deadly  enemy  of  the 
Ghibellines.  For  which  reason  the  eternal  emulation  with 
Genoa,  which  was  cruelly  torn  by  factions,  enkindled  the 
flames  of  war,  which  burst  forth  more  or  less  violently 
according  as  the  Ghibelline  faction  became  more  or  less 
predominent.  Now  it  happened  on  the  30th  of  December 
of  the  same  year  that  the  Grimaldi  and  Fieschi  the  leaders 
of  the  Guelph  party  were  involved  in  an  unfortunate  civil 
contest  with  the  Doria's  and  the  Spinola's,  the  chieftains 
of  the  Ghibellines.  With  such  fury  did  they  fight,  that 
forgetting  they  were  in  their  own  country,  they  laid  it 
waste  by  fire  and  sword.  The  sanctity  of  the  churches  was 
not  respected.  For  the  Grimaldi  having  taken  refuge  and 
fortified  themselves  in  the  tower  of  the  Church  of  St.  Law- 
rence they  were  besieged  by  their  opponents,  and  in  the 
storming  of  it  the  roof  took  fire.20  Moreover  from  Lom- 
bardy  auxiliaries  arrived  who  increased  the  flame  of  those 
scandalous  contests,  until  having  conquered  and  expelled 
the  Guelph  party  on  the  7th  of  February,  Conrad  Doria, 
and  Conrad  Spinola  reigned  supreme  in  Genoa.  After 

"Lib.  2,  ep.  11  Raynaldus  4. 

"Georg.  Stella  Ann.  Gen.' cap.  VIII  S.  R.  I.  t.  17. 


160  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill< 

these  domestic  strifes  a  war  with  Guelph  Venice  ensued; 
or  rather,  the  damages  done  by  Venice  to  the  possessions 
of  Genoa  in  the  East,  namely  the  burning  of  her  ships, 
and  the  capture  and  sacking  of  the  city  of  Caffa  in  the 
Crimea.21  A  detailed  account  of  this  is  contained  in  the 
chronicles  of  Andrew  Dandolo.22  In  the  midst  of  these 
insane  strifes  Pope  Boniface  wished  to  interpose  himself, 
and  as  we  have  seen  in  the  previous  year  he  made  use  of 
every  effort  to  unite  them  in  peace,  but  in  vain.  In  this 
year  he  renewed  his  efforts  for  the  same  end.  He  wrote  to 
the  Genoese 23  and  Venetians  to  send  their  legates  to  him 
that  he  might  end  the  war  between  them  and  establish  an 
alliance.  In  the  severest  terms  he  particularly  com- 
manded the  Genoese,  who  in  fact  acted  more  scandalously 
than  the  Venetians,  to  respect  a  truce  until  Easter.  But 
they  would  not  listen  to  him. 

We  return  to  the  quarrels  between  the  Kings  of  France 
and  England.  Edward,  constantly  annoyed  by  the 
Welsh  and  kept  on  his  guard  by  the  Scotch,  truly  desired 
peace  with  Philip.  He  tried  to  obtain  it  somehow.  In 
December,  1295,  Margaret  of  Provence,  widow  of  St.  Louis, 
the  grandmother  of  Philip,  and  his  own  aunt,  had  died. 
Under  such  circumstances  it  was  utterly  unbecoming  for 
persons  so  closely  related  to  be  at  war,  and  so  Edward 
wrote  to  all  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom  that  they  might 
pray  for  the  soul  of  his  aunt,  the  Queen  of  France,24  which 
merciful  solicitude  he  fancied  would  persuade  Philip  to 
make  peace  with  him.  And  so  much  did  he  flatter  himself 
on  the  feasibility  of  the  thing,  that  on  the  1st  of  January 
he  gave  the  fullest  power  to  two  legates  of  Boniface,  to  the 
Dukes  of  Brabant,  to  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  to  the  Counts 
of  Savoy,  of  Bar,  and  of  Holland,  and  to  fourteen  of  the 
Chief  men  if  his  kingdom,  to  negotiate  at  Cambrai  a  truce 
with  Philip.25  Philip  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  peaceful 
proposals,  and  persevered  in  the  slow  but  exterminating 
war  in  unhappy  Gascony26  with  the  worst  results  for 
Edward.  But  Edward  was  compensated  well  for  what- 
ever damage  was  done  him  by  the  victory  he  obtained 

2lCont.  Dandol.  S.  R.  I.  12,  col.  406.      "Ibidem.     23Lib.  2,  epist.  38.  39, 
Raynaldus  5.  *Chron.  Nangii  1295— Rymer  T.  I.  pag.  705. 

"Rymer.  Tom.  II,  p.  702,  703. 
"Chron.  Guill.  Nangii,  1296— H  de  Knyghton  lib.  III.  p.  1509. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

under  the  walls  of  Dunbar  over  the  Scotch.  Forsaken  by 
Philip,  they  lost  their  king  Balliol,  who  was  cast  a  pris- 
oner into  the  tower  of  London,  and  their  liberty,  becoming 
from  that  time  vassals  of  Edward.27  He  continued  his 
conquest  of  Scotland,  yet  he  did  not  cease  through  papal 
legates  and  the  other  deputies  to  negotiate  a  truce  with 
Philip  until  Christmas,  according  to  the  wish  of  Boniface. 
The  subjugation  of  Scotland  displeased  Boniface,  because 
over  that  kingdom,  as  will  be  said,  the  Church  believed  she 
possessed  some  rights  of  dominion ;  he  was  also  displeased 
at  the  little  success  of  his  legates.  Moreover  Guy,  Count 
of  Flanders,  whose  daughter,  as  we  narrated,  had  been 
wickedly  imprisoned  by  Philip  while  on  her  way  to  her 
husband,  was  asking  for  justice  and  aid  against  oppres- 
sion by  French  arms.29  In  the  strongest  terms  by  letters 
Boniface  exhorted  his  legates  to  obtain  a  truce,  if  not 
peace;  to  restrain  the  angry  princes  from  shedding  blood, 
and  from  exhausting  the  holy  patrimonies.  They  should 
make  known  the  views  of  the  Pontiff,  and  his  desire  to 
cross  the  mountains  to  make  peace  among  those  at  vari- 
ance; that  the  college  of  Cardinals  could  not  come,  be- 
cause many  were  advanced  in  years ;  that  Italy  being  con- 
vulsed, and  Sicily  in  a  furious  war  against  Charles,  de- 
manded his  presence;  and  that  they  should  counsel  the 
princes  to  send  representatives,  and  to  be  satisfied  to  sub- 
mit to  his  judgment  the  reasons  of  their  dissensions.30 
The  admonitions  to  his  legates  he  followed  by  a  Bull  dated 
the  13th  of  August,31  which  inflicted  excommunication  on 
any  one  who  would  violate  the  truce  of  two  years. 

He  addressed  also  urgent  letters  to  Edward,  Philip  and 
Adolph,  in  which  he  recommended  them  to  leave  in  his 
hands  the  settlement  of  their  disputes.  "  We  pass  the 
night  lying  awake,"  he  wrote  to  Adolph,  King  of  the 
Romans,  "  in  order  that  between  you  and  Edward  King 
"  of  England  and  Philip  of  France,  our  most  dear  sons  in 
"  Christ,  we  may  be  able  by  a  peace  or  truce,  to  prepare 
"  and  establish  quiet  and  peace  in  Christendom,  whereby 
"  the  faithful  chieftains  and  their  followers  will  not  turn 
"  against  one  another  those  swords  which  should  be  un- 

^Xicol.  Trivet  Chr.  p.  217— H  de  Knyghton  lib.  III.  p.  1581. 
KRymer.  Tom.  II,  p.  709-710-716.  "  Spond.  anno  1296. 

"Raynaldus  21.  nldem  29-1296. 


1Q2  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   yill. 

"  sheathed  against  the  enemies  of  the  Cross  and  the  Faith 
"  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  Wherefore  with 
"  most  fervent  admonitions,  exhortations  and  prayers  we 
"  beseech  you  by  Christ's  Precious  Blood,  not  to  wage  war 
"  against  Philip,  King  of  France,  and  his  kingdom ;  and 
"  incline  your  soul  and  submit  to  a  peace  or  at  least  a  long 
"  truce,  during  which  you  can  effectually  in  our  presence 
"  negotiate  for  peace  with  the  representatives  of  your  ad- 
"  versaries."  32  From  a  letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip  33  it 
is  evident  that  Edward  and  Adolph  had  sent  represent- 
atives to  the  Roman  Court  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Pontiff  their  reasons.  But  Philip  the  Fair,  when  the 
papal  wishes  concerning  the  truce,  and  the  threatened 
censures  were  disclosed  to  him,  became  enraged;  he  re- 
jected them,  and  haughtily  replied :  "  The  kingdom  was 
"  his  own ;  in  temporal  affairs  he  recognized  no  superior, 
"  to  no  one  on  earth  was  he  subject ;  and  he  was  prepared 
"  to  do  the  will  of  the  Pope  only  in  spiritual  things."  The 
benign  Bossuet  extols  to  the  skies  this  answer  of  Philip. 
But  he  was  too  much  attached  to  the  greatness  of  Louis 
XIV,  to  be  able  to  view  in  the  right  light  this  apparent  in- 
trusion of  Boniface  into  the  affairs  of  France.34  Without 
entering  into  an  examination  of  the  indirect  power  which 
the  Pope  could  have  in  those  times  in  the  civil  affairs  of  a 
state  which  being  Catholic  was  spiritually  subject  to  him, 
we  can  linger  over  the  fact  of  the  many  misfortunes  which 
befel  the  people  precisely  because  princes  returned  these 
haughty  answers  to  the  Pontiffs. 

Up  to  now  one  can  easily  believe  that  Boniface  truly 
loved  Philip  the  Fair.  The  letters  he  sent  him  announc- 
ing his  elevation  to  the  Pontificate ;  the  strong  pressure  he 
brought  upon  Edward  and  Adolph,  that  they  should  not 
disturb  him  in  the  posession  of  Gascony  and  Burgundy; 
the  privilege  bestowed  on  him,  his  wife  and  children,  that 
they  could  not  be  excommunicated  by  any  one  without  the 
express  permission  of  the  Holy  See,35  and  his  efforts  to 
maintain  Charles,  a  Frenchman  on  the  Sicilian  throne, 
were  certainly  unmistakable  signs  of  his  love  and  benevo- 
lence. But  love  should  not  blind  the  Pontiff  to  such  a  de- 

^Raynaldus  1296-18.  "*  Ibi.  "  crebris,  rumoribus." 

34  See  Bianchi,  "The  Indirect  power  of  the  Church",  T.  2  Book  6  V, 
page  454.  **Regesta  Vaticana,  Ep.  159. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

gree  as  to  make  him  overlook  justice,  especially  when  the 
defence  of  it  is  demanded  for  churches,  and  consecrated 
persons  who  had  no  other  refuge  but  the  see  of  St.  Peter. 
Philip  was  entirely  ignorant  of  this,  because  in  the  intoxi- 
cation of  power  his  intellect  was  clouded.  The  reader  will 
observe  that  we  now  begin  to  touch  upon  the  remote  causes 
of  the  great  quarrel  between  Philip  and  the  Pope,  which 
afterwards  assumed  gigantic  proportion  to  the  great 
scandal  of  the  faithful.  We  begin  with  the  affair  of  the 
church  of  Pamiers,  in  which  the  sparks  of  the  great  confla- 
gration began  to  be  lighted.  Pamiers  was  a  city  in 
France,36  in  the  county  of  Foix,  its  name  formerly  was 
Fredelac  and  afterwards  Pamiers,  from  the  castle  of  this 
name  in  the  diocese  of  Toulouse.  In  the  8th  century  the 
Counts  of  Carcassonne  built  there  the  abbey  of  St.  Anton- 
inus, which  was  given  as  a  dwelling  to  the  Canons  Kegular 
of  St.  Augustine.  Roger  Bernard,  Count  of  Foix,  in  1149 
or  thereabouts,  gave  the  city  of  Fredelac,  with  the  castle  of 
Pamiers  to  the  Abbey.  But  as  often  happened  in  those 
barbarous  times,  and  because  the  piety  of  the  benefactors 
grew  wearied,  and  that  of  the  receivers  of  the  gift  grew 
cold  in  the  midst  of  riches,  robbery  followed  the  pious  of- 
ferings, and  for  that  reason  frequent  wars  were  waged 
between  the  Counts  of  Foix  and  the  Abbots  of  St.  An- 
toninus 37  to  the  detriment  of  the  latter,  who  lost  posses- 
sion of  Pamiers;  for  we  find  that  Bernard  III  in  1265 
restored  to  it  the  Abbey,  consoling  thereby  Amanieu 
d'Armagnac,  Archbishop  of  Auch,  his  tutor.38 

We  believe  that  the  Count  made  this  restitution  by  order 
of  St.  Louis  IX.  Pope  Clement  IV  had  requested  him  to 
take  the  city  of  Pamiers  under  his  protection  for  the 
honor  of  Holy  Church,  and  to  shield  it  from  the  violence 
of  the  Counts  of  Foix,  by  placing  it  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  Abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Antoninus.  St. 
Louis  complied  and  he  promised  that  at  a  stated  time  he 
would  leave  it  under  the  full  control  of  the  aforesaid 
Abbot.  Philip  the  Bold  did  the  same.  But  the  time  had 
arrived  when  Pamiers  should  pass  from  the  royal  control 
to  that  of  the  Abbot,  yet  Philip  the  Fair  would  not  sur- 

38  See  Hadr.  Valesii  Notit.  Galliae  ad  vocem  "  Apamiae." — 

^The  great  dictionary  of  Moreri  &  Pamiers. 

"Gall.  Christ,  D.  Sainte  Marth.  Tom.  I,  col.  993,  Eccl.  Ansciensis. 


164  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

render  it.  Nay,  importuned  by  Roger  Bernard  III,  Count 
of  Foix,  he  wrote  letters  to  the  Seneschal  of  Carcasonne 
telling  him  to  extend  a  strong  hand  to  the  Count  and  aid 
him  in  obtaining  the  mastery  over  Panders.  This  was  a 
shameful  violation  of  the  rights  of  that  church.  The 
Count  entered  the  city  as  an  enemy,  and  extorted  an  oath 
of  fealty  from  the  officials  of  the  Abbot.  Inasmuch  as 
this  act  was  done  at  the  instance  of  Philip,  it  was  an 
usurpation  of  the  sacred  patrimony,  contempt  was  shown 
for  the  provisions  of  Clement  IV,  and  much  scandal  was 
given. 

Down  to  our  own  days  Boniface  has  been  generally  con- 
demned by  all  historians  as  a  man  of  irascible  and  disdain- 
ful temperament ;  but  in  his  letters  we  find  such  control  of 
temper,  and  such  a  mild  declaration  of  rights,  that  consid- 
ering his  natural  disposition  of  being  proudly  intolerant 
of  every  injustice,  it  seems  to  us  marvellous.  In  fact,  the 
dishonorable  invasion  of  the  sacred  patrimony  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Antoninus  by  Philip  through  the  Count  of 
Foix,  he  answered  with  a  fatherly  exhortation  to  repair 
the  evil  deed,  restoring  that  which  was  seized  to  the  Abbot, 
and  remembering  how  his  grandfather  and  father  're- 
spected the  rights  of  the  Abbey,  he  should  preserve  and 
guard  them.  There  were  no  threats,  nor  severity  of  lan- 
guage.39 However  Philip  would  not  obey  the  Pontiff,  nor 
would  the  Count,  who  was  under  the  protection  of  the 
King.  The  Count  threatened  with  censures  became  con- 
tumacious, and  the  censures  passed  into  effect;  Philip, 
because  he  was  King,  was  not  even  threatened,  and  he  per- 
severed in  his  obstinacy.  Then  Boniface  to  make  the 
church  of  Pamiers  more  venerable,  erected  it  into  a  Bish- 
opric, thereby  hoping  that  if  the  personality  of  an  Abbot 
was  not  sufficient  to  restrain  the  rapacity  of  the  prince, 
the  dignity  of  a  Bishop  might  be  able  to  do  so.  For  this 
purpose  he  published  the  Bull  "  Romanus  Pontifex  "  dated 
at  Anagni,  the  23rd  of  July,  in  which  separating  the  city 
of  Pamiers  from  the  vast  diocese  of  Toulouse  he  made  it 
a  new  Episcopal  See.40  The  secret  motive  of  this  ordi- 
nance was  the  present  act  of  violence,  but  the  ostensible 

39Epist.  ad  Philip.  Raynaldus  52. 

*°  Bullarum,  Diplom.  amplis.  Collect.  Caroli  Cocquelines.  Ed.  Romae 
1741.  T.  Ill,  p.  79. — William  Nangius.  ad  annum  1296. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  155 

reasons  for  it  were  the  immense  size  of  the  diocese  of 
Toulouse,  which,  owing  to  the  difficulty  and  slowness  of 
the  Bishops  in  visiting  the  entire  diocese,  was  a  grievous 
detriment  to  souls.  He  designated  as  cathedral,  the 
Church  of  St.  Martin,  where  the  body  of  St.  Antoninus 
reposed.  The  Abbot  Bernard  Saisset  he  made  the  first 
bishop;  he  defined  the  limits  of  the  new  diocese,  and  as- 
signed it  a  revenue.  And  in  order  that  Pamiers  as  a  city 
might  correspond  to  the  new  honors  granted  it  as  a  Bishop- 
ric, Boniface  founded  there  an  Academy.41  These  provis- 
ions however  Philip  believed  to  be  infringements  on  his 
power,  and  were  occasions  of  more  burning  hatred,  which 
increased  in  violence  more  and  more. 

Strength  and  vigor  to  preserve  the  ecclesiastical  immu- 
nities were  necessary  in  these  times,  when  conspiracy  to 
plunder  and  outrage  the  rights  of  churches  was  almost 
universal.  The  care  and  anxiety  for  the  goods  of  the 
Church  were  not  wanting  in  Boniface.  Ever  watchful 
over  all  the  churches,  he  saw  the  snares  and  evils  which 
beset  them;  and  there  was  no  church  no  matter  how, 
distant,  nor  violator  of  its  rights,  that  ever  escaped  his 
notice.  He  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  Aries,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Marseilles,42  urging  them  to  resist  a  certain  law 
passed  by  the  people  of  Marseilles,  forbidding  donations 
to  be  given  to  clerics  not  belonging  to  their  city.43  He  ex- 
communicated the  Duke  of  Carinthia,  the  proud  violator 
of  the  rights  of  the  church  of  Trent.44  He  cited  to  judg- 
ment the  magistrates  of  Lucania,  for  oppressing  the 
Church;  and  summoned  to  Eome  the  Bishop  because  of 
his  heedlessness  of  laical  impertinence.  The  Pisans  and 
Orvietans,  guilty  of  the  same  fault,  he  loaded  with  cen- 
sures.45 He  waged  a  terrible  war  against  vice  which  is  a 
pest  in  every  civil  community.  Being  told  of  the  grievous 
usuries  which  had  been  practised  by  a  certain  man  now 
deceased,  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Metz,  commanding 

41  Epist.  658.  Raynaldus  53.— 

**  See,  Reg.  Vatic.  M.  S.  an.  1  Epist.  ad  Arch.  Remensi.  "  Ut  procedat 
contra  injuriam  allatam  Ecclesiae  Laudunensi."  Epist.  355  Ad  Philippem 
Regem,  quod  faciat  justitiam  eidem  Ecclesiae.  Epist.  356.  Eidem  quod 
non  molestet  Episcopum  Lingonensem.  Epist.  546,  etc. 

"Epistola  223  Raynaldus  54. 

**  Epist.  151  Rayn.  Ibi.  «  Epist.  146-150.  Tay.  ibi. 


166  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

him,  as  an  example  to  others,  to  disinter  the  body  of  that 
wicked  usurer  and  cast  it  out  of  the  consecrated  ground.46 
He  knew  well  that  the  bosom  of  the  Church  should  be 
closed  against  those  who  had  shut  their  hearts  to  pity  and 
justice.  Moreover  it  appears  that  he  labored  strenously 
to  exterminate  this  pestiferous  race  of  man,  for  we  find 
in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Autun  that  he 
imposed  on  him  the  obligation  of  expelling  from  his  dio- 
cese all  those  guilty  of  usury. 

The  clerical  administrators  of  the  sacred  patrimonies 
were  in  a  dilemma.  On  the  one  side  was  the  rapacity  of 
princes,  and  on  the  other  were  the  threats  and  prohibi- 
tions of  the  Popes.  At  first  with  the  permission  of  the 
Bishop  they  could  of  their  own  will  assist  laymen  reduced 
to  dire  straits;  but  there  were  censures  for  laymen  com- 
pelling them  to  do  so,  though  not  for  clerics  donating  the 
sacred  patrimony;  so  that  often  not  forced  by  fear,  but 
with  a  desire  to  please  the  princes,  it  happened  that  they 
enriched  the  princes  with  the  sacred  gifts  of  the  faithful 
to  God  on  the  altar.  Boniface  however  erected  defensive 
barriers  around  the  goods  of  the  Church,  as  Councils  and 
former  Popes  had  done.  The  permission  to  make  these 
donations  he  reserved  to  the  will  of  the  Pope  alone,  and 
by  censures  he  restrained  the  clerics  from  offering  them, 
in  the  same  manner  as  already  the  violent  laymen  had 
been  restrained  from  seeking  them.47  For  this  reason  he 
wrote  and  published  that  famous  constitution  "  Clericis 
Laicos  ",  which  replete  with  the  sacredness  of  the  rights 
of  the  Church,  sounded  unpleasantly  in  the  courts  of 
princes,  and  was  a  scandal  to  the  proud,  just  as  the  au- 
thor himself  of  justice  was  and  ever  will  be  to  the  wicked. 
The  constitution  thus  begins :  "  Antiquity  shows  us  the 
"  enmity  of  laymen  against  the  clergy,  and  our  experience 
"in  the  present  time  manifestly  supports  that  teaching, 
"  since  without  considering  that  they  have  no  power  over 
"  the  persons  or  property  of  ecclesiastics,  the  laity  lay 
"  imposts  on  the  prelates  and  clergy,  both  regular  and 
"  secular ;  and  we  grieve  to  say,  that  some  prelates  and 
"  other  ecclesiastics,  having  more  fear  of  the  temporal 
"  majesty  than  of  the  eternal,  acquiesce  in  that  abuse. 

"Regest.  M.  S.  Vatic,  an  I  Ep.  508. 

47  Regest.  M.  S.  Vatic.  Anni  II  Epist.  59. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  167 

"  That  we  may  obviate  this,  we  ordain  that  all  the  prelates 
"  and  ecclesiastics,  regular  and  secular,  who  pay  to  lay- 
"  men  tithes  or  any  other  portion  of  their  revenues,  under 
"  the  name  of  aid,  subvention,  or  any  other,  without  the 
"  authority  of  the  Holy  See,  and  the  kings,  princes  and 
"  magistrates  and  all  others  who  shall  impose  such 
"  burdens,  or  who  shall  give  aid  or  consent  thereto,  shall 
"  incur  excommunication,  absolution  from  which  is  re- 
"  served  to  the  Holy  See,  notwithstanding  any  privilege." — 

In  this  Decretal,  which  Bossuet  blindly  calls  an  insti- 
gator of  hatred,48  many  see  the  hidden  spark  of  that  fire 
of  wrath  that  broke  out  between  Philip  and  Boniface ;  and 
for  that  reason  on  the  head  of  the  latter  rests  the  entire 
blame  for  the  scandals  which  followed.  But  here  it  is 
necessary  to  explain  clearly  this  affair,  because  not  agree- 
ing with  the  opinion  of  Bossuet  and  Fleury  and  all  that 
set  of  lawyers  (a  race  of  men  who  by  their  subtlety 
adapted  themselves  to  every  kind  of  government,  and  for 
that  reason  willing  tools  of  the  profligacy  of  the  people, 
and  the  best  counsellors  of  oppression),  if  facts  related 
were  not  cleansed  from  the  foulness  with  which  they  were 
defiled  by  courtiers,  we  would  be  unfaithful  to  our  office 
of  historian. 

Now  first  of  all  it  is  to  be  observed  that  Boniface  did 
not  fabricate  by  himself  a  new  constitution,  but  rather 
reproduced  and  confirmed  those  solemn  decrees,  which 
Councils  and  former  popes  had  published,  in  order  to  bind 
the  hands  of  the  laity  attacking  the  property  of  the 
churches.  The  XlXth  Canon  of  the  third  Council  of 
Lateran  smites  with  censures  laymen  who  impose  taxes 
on  the  goods  of  the  churches  ;and  the  XLIVth  Canon  of 
the  fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  besides  confirming  these 
censures,  further  adds  that  subsidies  even  in  case  of  neces- 
sity cannot  be  drawn  from  the  churches  without  the  per- 
mission of  the  Pope.49  Pope  Alexander  IV  renewed  these 
censures  particularly  throughout  France.50  It  cannot  be 
said  that  the  decretal  of  Alexander  and  the  prohibition  of 
Boniface  were  something  new  in  France.  For  the  learned 

48  Defen.  Declaration.  Cler.  Gallic.  T.  1,  p.  2,  book  7  c.  23  pag.  286,  col.  2, 
in  fin.  **  Sext.  Deer,  de  Eccl.  immuni.  Cap.  If  on  minus,  and  under  the 

game  title  cap.  Adversus.  M  Ib.  Lib  3,  tit.  23,  cap.  1. 


168  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Tomassinus51  with  the  clearest  proof  declares  that  never 
had  the  kings  of  France  in  the  excess  of  their  power 
wrested  anything  from  the  clergy,  without  the  permission 
of  the  Pope  and  in  the  case  of  supreme  necessity.  There- 
fore the  present  Constitution  was  not  new,  nor  was  it 
issued  particularly  against  Philip ;  it  was  not  untimely  in 
those  ages  when  the  princes,  and  especially  the  French 
king,  the  shameful  debaser  of  the  coins,  were  unrestrain- 
edly usurping  ecclesiastical  property ;  it  was  not  importu- 
nate inasmuch  as  these  canons  had  been  generally  received 
in  the  Christian  kingdoms,  and  especially  in  France.  And 
let  the  reader  remember  that  the  rights  of  the  Church  in 
those  times  were  strong  and  vigorous,  and  not  like  to-day 
adjusted  to  the  times  by  a  Concordat  which  a  discreet 
fear  prefers  to  something  worse;  and  for  this  reason  to 
judge  the  facts  of  that  age  the  reader  must  abstract  from 
present  conditions,  and  so  will  not  wonder  that  Boniface 
in  this  Constitution  made  the  thunder  of  censures  resound 
in  the  ears  of  kings  and  Emperors. 

Although  in  the  said  decretal  there  was  nothing  singu- 
lar, or  any  departure  from  the  usual  forms  with  which 
the  Popes  always  clothed  their  decrees,  and  there  was  not 
one  syllable  that  pointed  expressly  to  France,  yet  it  raised 
the  greatest  storm  in  the  court  of  Philip.  A  hornet's  nest 
of  courtier  doctors  gathered  round  the  haughty  prince, 
complaining  hypocritically  of  Papal  tyranny  which  they 
declared  lay  hidden  in  this  decretal  of  Boniface.  And 
they  pretended  they  were  busily  striving  to  retain  on  his 
head  the  royal  crown,  of  which,  as  they  wickedly  affirmed, 
the  ambitious  Pope  wished  to  deprive  him.  Everyone 
knows  how  quickly  the  mind  of  a  beguiled  prince  is  pre- 
vailed upon  when  he  is  urged  by  flatterers  to  that  to  which 
he  is  inclined.  Philip,  haughty  of  spirit  and  touched  to 
the  quick,  when  he  saw  the  abundant  source  of  wealth 
from  the  patrimony  of  the  churches  was  closed  to  him, 
flew  into  a  passion,  and  published  an  edict  forbidding  both 
the  laity  and  the  clerics,  his  subjects,  to  send  money  out  of 
the  kingdom,  even  to  the  Holy  See  for  pious  reasons.  He 
could  pass  laws  relating  to  the  goods  of  laymen,  and  also 
to  those  of  the  clerics,  over  whom,  as  vassals,  he  as  prince 

51  Tomassinus.  De  vet.  et  nov.  Eccl.  discipl.  in  Benef.  par.  3.  lib.  1, 
cap.  43  n.  9.  in  fin. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

could  exercise  his  power;  but  tithes,  the  offerings,  and 
private  goods  which  the  faithful  had  left  to  the  churches 
for  the  good  of  their  souls,  he  could  not  touch,  nor  even 
desire.  In  those  times  there  did  not  exist  those  rights 
called  "  Regalia  " ;  and  the  prince  according  to  the  canons, 
which  were  accepted  by  all,  enjoyed  no  other  privilege  but 
that  of  guarding  the  vacant  benefices,  preserving  their 
revenue  for  the  successor,  and  (when  the  title  was  of  royal 
patronage)  choosing  the  person  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Now 
the  law  forbidding  the  donation  of  money  from  the  reve- 
nue of  the  churches,  was  an  open  violation  of  the  canons 
which  forbade  laymen  intruding  themselves  in  the  admin- 
istration and  the  expenditure  of  the  sacred  revenues;  and 
was  a  tyrannical  destruction  of  ecclesiastical  liberty.  Nay 
more,  this  edict  savored  of  downright  robbery.  Engaged 
in  church  service  there  were  many  French  beneficiaries 
residing  outside  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  annual  stipend 
was  held  back  from  these,  as  they  could  not  receive  it  on 
account  of  the  royal  edict.  The  first  among  these  bene- 
ficiaries was  the  Pope  himself,  to  whom  from  France  came 
the  offerings  which  the  pious  faithful  gave  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  also  the  revenues  from  the  bene- 
fices which  belonged  to  the  Holy  See.  Therefore  this  edict 
was  unjust  and  outrageous  to  the  Pontiff. 

Let  us  observe  the  conduct  of  Boniface,  who  was  reputed 
to  be  a  most  proud  man,  and  prone  to  anger.  He  certainly 
could  not  wish  evil  to  the  family  of  France,  without  en- 
dangering his  own  interests  thereby;  and  the  constancy 
with  which  he  upheld  the  fortunes  of  Charles  of  Anjou  in 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  the  many  things  he  did  for  the 
benefit  of  Philip,  are  certain  arguments  which  go  to  prove, 
that  like  his  predecessors,  in  the  struggles  of  the  Italian 
factions,  he  made  use  of  the  royal  house  of  France  as  a 
prop  for  his  throne.  In  fact  so  far  removed  from  his 
thought  was  king  Philip  when  he  wrote  the  Constitution 
about  ecclesiastical  immunities,  that  at  that  very  time  he 
was  revolving  schemes  to  advance  the  interests  of  that 
king.  On  the  same  day  the  18th  of  August,  on  which  he 
published  the  Constitution,  he  wrote' to  Philip  imploring 
him  to  send  to  Rome  Charles  of  Valois,  his  brother,  that 
they  might  consult  together  on  important  and  secret 


1J0  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

matters.  It  was  rumored,  as  Spondano  52  asserts,  that  the 
interview  concerned  the  elevation  of  Charles  as  Roman 
Emperor,  that  he  might  lead  the  expedition  f  Or  the  relief  of 
the  Holy  Land.  Finally  Boniface  published  the  celebrated 
Bull  "  Ineffabilis " 53  as  a  reply  to  the  insolent  edict. 
This  Bull  was  couched  in  terms  of  the  noblest  indulgence 
and  most  touching  kindness.  "  The  time  is  ill-suited," 
wrote  the  Pope,  "  to  the  provocation  of  a  dispute  with  the 
"  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  since  from  the  moment  of  our 
"  accession  we  have  not  ceased  to  watch  with  heart-felt 
"  earnestness  over  your  interests,  and  endeavored  to  effect 
"  an  honorable  reconciliation  between  Prance  and  Eng- 
"  land.  We  have  not  decreed  that  ecclesiastics  should  not 
"  contribute  to  the  defense  and  wants  of  the  kingdom,  but 
"  that  our  leave  is  necessary  in  such  subsidies,  in  order  to 
"  put  a  stop  to  the  unbearable  exactions  of  your  agents 
"  over  the  clergy.  In  cases  of  need  we  would  rather  sell 
"  the  sacred  vessels  and  crosses  of  the  churches  than  ex- 
"  pose  to  the  least  a  kingdom  such  as  France,  always  so 
dear  and  so  devoted  to  the  Holy  See."  These  noble  words 
were  powerless  with  Philip;  his  pride  would  yield  to  no 
concession. 

We  do  not  find  that  the  French  clergy  exulted  over  the 
publication  of  this  constitution  which  defended  their  lib- 
erty against  the  preponderance  of  Philip,  nor  that  they 
were  distressed  because  of  his  impertinence  to  the  Pontiff. 
In  England,  on  the  contrary,  we  find  that  both  the  one  and 
the  other  sentiment  were  manifested  by  the  clergy  under 
the  leadership  of  the  brave  Robert  of  Winchelsea,  who  had 
succeeded  not  only  to  the  chair  of  the  martyred  St.  Thomas 
a  Becket,  but  also  to  that  manly  valor  which  prevails  only 
in  the  sanctuary  of  Faith.  He  had  received  the  constitu- 
tion of  which  we  speak ;  and  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Rich- 
ard, Bishop  of  London,  dated  the  5th  of  January  of  this 
same  year  1296,  in  which  he  transcribed  the  entire  consti- 
tution "  Clericis  ",  and  the  words  of  the  tWo  legates,  Cardi- 
nals of  Palestrina  and  Albano,  commanding  the  same  to  be 
promulgated  immediately.54  Moreover  in  another  letter 

M  Ad.  an.  1296.  n.  2.  M  See  Bull  at  end  of  the  work. 

M  Concil.  Magnae  Britanniae  et.  Hiberniae,  Vol.  II,  pag.  224  .... 
patenter  ac  diligenter  in  omnibus  exequamini,  sue  exequi  faciatis,  et  ea 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

dated  the  17th  of  February  of  this  same  year  he  began  by 
stating  that  the  ancient  custom  of  the  Church  was  to  pro- 
nounce excommunication  against  the  Tiolators  of  her 
liberty,  and  he  confirmed  the  same  according  to  the  recent 
constitution  of  Boniface.  Less  obstinate  in  wrong  doing 
than  Philip,  Edward  of  England  surpassed  him  in  his 
brutality  to  the  clergy.  Having  brought  to  a  successful 
termination  the  war  against  John  Baliol  of  Scotland,  and 
being  on  the  point  of  declaring  war  against  Philip,  he  op- 
pressed the  churches  with  heavy  exactions.  He  did  not 
obey  the  constitution  "  Clericis  Laicos ",  and  began  to 
object  and  fume  more  furiously  than  Philip.  He  de- 
manded money  from  the  clergy  and  was  positively  refused. 
The  threats  of  Boniface  deterred  them.  Then  when  the 
allotted  time,  which  had  been  given  to  the  clergy  wherein 
they  were  to  decide,  had  passed,  and  they  still  refused  to 
comply  with  the  request  of  Edward,  in  the  most  ruthless 
manner  he  sealed  up  the  doors  of  the  clerical  granary.  In 
return  Robert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  ordered  that,  as 
long  as  he  had  affixed  the  royal  seals  to  their  granaries, 
they  should  publish  the  constitution  of  Boniface  in  all 
the  cathedral  churches.  And  inasmuch  as  it  was  neces- 
sary to  strengthen  the  minds  in  their  just  resolutions,  and 
to  display  a  strong  and  united  resistance,  he  summoned  a 
council  of  all  his  suffragans  to  meet  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
London.  The  convocation  met  on  "  Laetare "  Sunday. 
Edward  became  alarmed,  and  before  they  began  their  de- 
liberation he  wrote  to  the  assembled  prelates  forbidding 
them  under  the  severest  threats  to  proceed  to  any  measure 
prejudicial  to  the  rights  of  the  crown,  or  to  pronounce  any 
censure  against  persons  employed  in  the  king's  service,  or 
such  as  had  already  submitted  to  his  will.55  For  eight 
days,  discussion  was  held  on  the  royal  petition,  when  of 
one  accord  the  recent  ordinances  of  Boniface  were  upheld. 
There  was  no  entertainment  of  the  contrary  opinion  of 

singula,  quatenus  ad  vos  pertinent,  observetis  ac  faciatis  inviolabileta 
observari." 

86  Ibidem. — •"  Nous  defendons  a  vous  touz  et  a  chascun  devous  .... 
ne  nul  de  vous  nulz  choses  ne  ordeins,  ne  facies,  ne  assente  a  nul  ordenance 
a  la  dit  assemble,  qui  puissont  turner  a  prejudice  ou  a  grievance  de  nous 
ou  de  nul  nos  ministrers,  on  de  ecus,  que  sont  a  nostre  peax,  et  a  nostre 
foy,  et  a  nostre  pretection,  ou  de  nos  adherents,  ou  a  nul  d'eux." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  clerical  courtiers  and  curials,  who  unmindful  of  their 
high  dignity  and  their  sacred  office,  had  been  the  coun- 
sellors and  abettors  of  the  king  in  his  impious  cupidity; 
when  they  departed  their  consciences  were  laden  with 
these  dry  words  of  the  Archbishop :  "  Let  each  one  attend 
to  the  salvation  of  his  soul."  The  decision  of  the  Council 
was  brought  to  the  King  by  certain  bishops  and  other  mes- 
sengers, and  the  knowledge  of  it  made  him  furious. 
Hardly  had  he  seen  the  bishops  coming  than  he  licensed 
his  courtiers  to  unhorse  them,  and  seize  upon  their  horses. 
He  forbade  all  lawyers  to  plead  for  the  clergy  before  any 
tribunal  whatsoever.  He  broke  out  into  open  war  against 
them ;  and  with  a  semblance  of  a  real  thief  he  commanded 
the  ordained  clergy  either  to  cede  to  him  a  fifth  part  of 
their  revenues,  or  pay  the  penalty  for  their  contempt  of 
the  royal  authority.  And  he  spoke  the  truth,  for  with  the 
exception  of  certain  weak  prelates  who  accorded  to  the 
demands  of  the  king,  the  others  remained  resolute  and  all 
their  real  and  personal  property  was  confiscated.  In 
order  that  the  royal  pleasure  might  go  into  immediate 
effect,  the  sacred  property  was  put  up  at  auction;  thus 
the  sacrilegeous  buyers  might  delay  in  taking  possession 
of  it.  So  much  with  regard  to  their  property.  Neither 
were  the  persons  of  the  clergy  secure.  The  King  having 
allowed  the  soldiers  to  injure  the  clergy,  the  latter  never 
dared  to  ride  singly,  but  together  in  a  great  number.56 
But  Robert,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  an  almost  in- 
credible example  of  Christian  constancy.  On  him  more 
than  others  the  king  vented  his  fury,  and  he  more  than 
others  by  an  invincible  fortitude  withstood  the  anger  of 
the  powerful  monarch.  He  was  deprived  of  all  his  posses- 
sions, abandoned  by  his  servants,  driven  from  his  home, 
and  every  friendly  door  closed  against  him  by  royal  com- 
mand; the  illustrious  prelate  led  a  miserable  life,  begging 
a  morsel  of  bread  and  a  place  to  rest.  He  endured  all  this 
invincibly  for  the  liberty  of  the  Church.  Would  that 
there  had  been  many  similar  prelates  to  support  the  arm 
of  Boniface  in  his  laborious  administration  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  for  their  own  good  and  that  of  the  faithful.57 
And  behold,  a  scandalous  persecution  in  the  English 

"•Henry  Knighton.  Can.  Levcest.  de  Event.  Angliae  Lib.  3  cap.  V.  col. 
2492.  »7  Westmonast.  Flor.  Hist,  anno  1296, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  173 

Church,  the  like  of  which  would  not  have  happened  in 
pagan  times.  Now  the  reader  can  learn  what  sort  of  peo- 
ple Boniface  had  to  deal  with,  and  let  him  reflect  if  to  the 
fetters  of  excommunication  some  other  punishment  could 
reasonably  have  been  added.  Afterwards  as  we  shall  re- 
late, Edward  repented  of  his  evil  deeds,  but  Philip  never 
gave  this  consolation  to  the  Church. 

Even  in  Germany  we  find  that  the  constitution  which 
was  offensive  to  Philip  was  reverently  received  and  pro- 
mulgated. In  the  collection  of  the  councils  of  Germany 
compiled  by  John  Frederick  Schannat  we  read,  that  at  the 
synod  of  Cambrai  the  Constitution  of  Boniface  was  or- 
dered to  be  read  in  the  vernacular  four  times  a  year  to  the 
people.68 

These  acts  of  open  violence  afflicted  Boniface,  and 
whilst  his  heart  was  grieved  thereby,  his  care  and  anxiety 
for  the  internal  order  of  the  Church,  and  for  the  extinc- 
tion of  error,  were  not  diminished.  The  actions  of  certain 
bad  men  did  not  escape  his  vigilance,  who  under  the  false 
garb  of  evangelical  perfection  were  spreading  themselves 
like  a  pestilence  to  poison  weak  and  uncultured  minds. 
In  this  century  the  Franciscan  Order  was  a  great  help  to 
the  Koman  See,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  stormy 
Pontificates  of  Gregory  VII  and  Innocent  III,  it  was  a 
singular  bulwark.  It  was  yet  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
but  just  as  in  a  healthy  body  sickly  humors  are  engen- 
dered, so  in  this  Order  still  young,  wicked  men  were  be- 
gotten and  emanated  from  it.  Corruption  of  heart  and 
pride  of  spirit  are  the  first  causes  of  human  folly  and  wick- 
edness. The  depravity  of  certain  friars  of  St.  Francis 
was  the  result  of  these.  The  Order  had  hardly  existed  for 
a  century  as  yet,  and  already  some  of  its  members  were 
descending  from  the  height  of  perfect  evangelical  poverty. 
This  fact  aroused  the  zeal  of  certain  friars,  who  holding 
tenaciously  to  the  observance  of  the  rule  of  their  founder, 
began  to  separate  themselves  from  the  others  as  pure  ob- 
servers of  it.  The  chief  one  among  these  was  said  to  be 
Friar  Peter  John  Oliva,  concerning  whom  there  is  a  differ- 

68  Item  constitutionem  SS.  Patris  Domini  Bonifacii  VIII.  Eodem  Modo 
praecipimus  ab  omnibus  presbyteris,  vel  eorum  vices  gerentibus,  saltern 
quater  in  anno  in  facie  Ecclesiarum  suarum  in  lingua  materna  nunciari  et 
exponi.  Tom.  IV,  p.  84. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

ence  of  opinion.  Some  considered  him  a  heretic,  while 
others  revered  him  as  a  Saint.  He  was  born  at  Serignan 
in  the  diocese  of  Beziers,  and  entered  the  Franciscan  Order 
at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  Thus  having  been  early  edu- 
cated in  the  severe  discipline  of  that  order,  he  conceived 
the  highest  esteem  for  the  rigid  poverty  of  St.  Francis ;  and 
since  his  fellow  friars  began  to  relax  in  the  observance  of 
this  evangelical  virtue,  he  took  it  upon  himself  to  retain 
them  in  the  ancient  observance.  Sharp-witted,  and  so 
well  versed  in  the  sacred  science  as  to  merit  the  degree  of 
bachelor  in  the  Paris  University,  he  strongly  censured 
by  word  and  writing  the  departure  from  the  rule  of  St. 
Francis  in  that  matter  which  he  considered  the  only  ladder 
by  which  Heaven  could  be  reached.  As  usual,  some, 
though  few,  ardently  followed  him;  whereas  the  other 
friars  opposed  him.  Whether  his  impetuosity  for  reform 
led  him  into  errors,  or  his  opponents  maliciously  accused 
him  of  the  same,  we  know  not.  Wading59  cleanses  him 
from  all  stain,  and  venerates  him  as  St.  Oliva;  but  Pope 
John  XXII  condemned  his  commentaries  on  the  Book  of 
the  Apocalypse  as  baneful  and  teeming  with  heresies.60  It 
is  true  that  John,  Canon  of  St.  Victor,  and  Bernard  Guido 
in  the  life  of  Pope  John  XXII  agree  in  asserting  that 
Oliva  was  the  head  of  the  Beguini.61  St.  Antoninus,62  and 
Nicholas  Eymerich  63  state  the  same.  About  the  year  1278 
he  wrote  the  offensive  commentary  on  the  Apocalypse ; 64 
and  therefore  Oliva  preceded  other  zealous  Italian  friars 
who  caused  a  schism  in  the  Seraphic  Order  through  love 
of  poverty,  namely  Conrad  of  Offida,  Peter  of  Monticolo, 
Thomas  of  Treviso,  Conrad  of  Spoleto,  and  Jacopone  of 

58  Annal.  Min.  T.  2.  ad  annos  1282-1292-1297. 

"John  St.  Victor,  Vita  Joan  XXII  apud  Baluz.  Vitae  Papar.  Avenion. 
col.  117.— Bernar.  Guid.  ap.  Baluz  ib.  Col.  140.  167. 

81 "  Habuit  autem  ortum  haec  haeresis  ex  doctrina  cujusdam  fratris 
minoris,  qui  Petrus  Joannis  Biterrensis  dicebatur,  qui  quandam  postillam 

composuit  super  Apocalysim Joannes  St.  Victor  ib, — 

Condemnavit  quamdam  pestiferam  postillam  fratris  Petri  Joannis  de 

Serinhano  dioecesis  Biterrensis  de  ordine  fratrura  minorum 

a  qua  sumebat  fomentum  secta  ilia  pestifera  illorum,  qui  Beguini  vulgari- 
ter,  qui  se  fratres  pauperes  de  tertio  ordine  S.  Francisci  communiter 
nominabant "  Bernard  Guido  ib. 

68  P.  E.  tit.  24,  c.  9.  q  II.  "*  Direct.  Inquis.  par.  2.  quaest.  15. 

•*0udin,  Comment,  de  script.  Eccl.  Tom.  Ill,  sec.  XIII.  Col.  586. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  175 

Todi.  It  can  be  inferred  that  like  Oliva  in  France,  these 
latter  in  Italy,  gave  without  meaning  it,  a  beginning  to 
the  Fraticelli  (the  little  friars).  These  friars  laid  aside 
the  yoke  of  obedience  imposed  on  them  by  their  superiors ; 
they  separated  from  their  brethren  and  went  about  preach- 
ing to  the  people  a  doctrine  inspired  by  an  evil  mind  and 
a  heart  without  charity.  It  was  rather  the  tares  than  the 
grain  that  they  sowed.65  The  watchful  eyes  of  the  Pon- 
tiffs, fearing  the  worst,  were  on  these  wilful  beings.  St. 
Celestine  was  Pope  at  this  time,  and  they  both  knew  his 
weakness  and  understood  how  to  profit  by  it.  They  sent 
two  of  their  fellow  friars  Liberatus  and  Peter  of  Macerata 
to  Celestine,  beseeching  him  to  allow  them  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  of  St.  Francis  in  all  its  vigor,  free  from  con- 
tradiction and  free  to  choose  any  dwelling  they  saw  fit. 
Celestine  granted  their  request,  and  wished  them  to  call 
themselves  no  longer  Friars  Minor,  but  Poor  Hermits,  or 
Celestine  recluses.  The  bad  fruits  of  these  zealots  were 
not  slow  in  manifesting  themselves.  They  transformed 
themselves  into  a  sect  at  the  head  of  which  in  Italy,  were 
Peter  of  Macerata,  and  Peter  of  Fossombrone,66  being 
called  Fraticelli,  Spiritual  Friars,  and  also  Beguardi,  and 
Beguini.  Their  number  was  increased  by  the  outcasts  of 
monasteries,  by  malcontent  and  apostate  friars,  who  were 
scandalized  by  the  license  given  by  Pontiffs  to  certain 
Franciscians,  afterwards  called  Conventuals,  to  possess 
property.  These  sectaries  begun  by  denying  the  right  of 
the  Pope  to  interpret  the  rule  of  St.  Francis  declaring  the 
Pontifical  power  had  ceased,  and  that  the  priesthood  and 
the  true  Church  were  to  be  found  only  among  themselves.67 
Poverty  of  life,  a  certain  apparent  austerity  of  morals  so 
deceived  many  as  to  influence  them  to  follow  these  fan- 
atics; and  even  the  women  flocked  to  them.  The  subse- 
quent actions  of  this  abnormal  assembly  of  friars  and 
women  are  well  told  in  the  Constitution  of  Boniface,  who 
no  sooner  learned  of  their  deeds,  than  he  visited  on  them 
all  the  force  of  the  Papal  authority.  The  Constitution  de- 
clares that  these  headstrong  men  and  women  without  any 
sacred  mission,  venture  to  forgive  and  retain  sin;  to  hold 

"  Wading  annal.  ord.  Min.  anno  1317. 

"Giordano  MS.   Vaticano  n.    1960;    Baronio   Sylva  MS.   p.   400.   apud 
Raynaldum.  "  S.  Antoninus  3.  par.  tit.  24  cap.  9  q  II. 


176  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   YIII. 

daily  and  nightly  conventicles  to  be  instructed  in  those 
errors  which  afterwards  they  are  to  disseminate;  to  im- 
pose hands  with  the  belief  of  communicating  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  that  they  are  to  show  reverence  to  God  alone ;  that 
they  maintain  the  most  efficacious  prayers  are  those  made 
whilst  the  body  is  in  a  state  of  nudity ;  that  they  condemn 
manual  labor  as  a  means  of  support ;  that  it  is  lawful  for 
women  to  indulge  in  betrothals  with  other  women ;  and 
that  men  shamelessly  naked  may  expose  themselves  to  the 
gaze  of  women.  Boniface  declared  them  heretics,  ordered 
the  prelates  to  seek  these  wretches ;  and  he  wished  also  to 
revive  in  all  their  vigor  against  them  those  civil  laws  which 
the  Emperor  Frederick  had  proclaimed  against  heretics.58 
We  would  not  prolong  the  description  of  this  impure 
sect,  were  it  not  that  from  their  history  much  light  is 
thrown  on  the  motives  of  the  dark  portraits  left  us  by  the 
writers  of  this  age  of  Pope  Boniface,  and  why  his  name 
has  been  handed  down  to  us  loaded  with  petulant  infamy. 
The  heresies  which  harassed  the  Church  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  which  we  may  collate  under  that  of  the  Albi- 
genses,  were  founded  on  a  certain  mystical  theology  de- 
rived from  the  Manicheans,  which  the  French  first  learned 
through  their  association  with  these  heretics  in  their  vari- 
ous crusades  in  the  Holy  Land.  These  baneful  theories 
taken  from  the  East,  became  visible  in  the  West  under 
those  forms  to  which  the  temper  of  the  public  mind  more 
inclined  owing  to  the  condition  of  the  Roman  Pontificate. 
In  these  times  the  Papacy,  by  its  supremacy  over  the  civil 
power  and  by  its  great  wealth,  was  at  the  summit  of  its 
grandeur.  Wherefore  hatred  for  the  political  authority 
of  the  Church,  love  of  most  austere  poverty,  and  obedience 
to  God  alone  were  preceded  by  the  Petrobusian  and  Henri- 
cian  69  heretics,  and  into  them  was  fused  the  sect  of  the 
Albigenses,  a  terrible  and  a  much  combated  heresy.  It  is 
evident  that  these  bodies  of  men  wished  to  reform  the 
Church,  and  under  the  name  of  reformers  they  disturbed 
both  state  and  Church.  In  this  respect  they  resembled 
the  later  reformers  of  Germany ;  but  the  times  being  dark, 
civilization  youthful,  and  minds  unrefined,  they  differed 
from  them  in  that  they  indulged  in  filthy  and  brutal  prac- 

M  Bull  "  Nuper  ad  audientiam  ".    Bernin,  sec.  XIII.  cap.  XVI.  p.  410. 
*  Bernini.  History  of  heresy,  sec.  XII  cap.  10  Tom.  3  p.  224. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

tices.70  So  strongly  were  the  minds  of  the  Waldenses 
possessed  of  contempt  for  worldly  things  and  love  for 
poverty,  that  they  even  called  themselves  the  Poor  Men  of 
Lyons  and  the  Mortified.  Princes  and  Popes  with  all 
their  power  and  strength  fought  the  Albigenses ;  and  every- 
one knows  what  trouble  they  gave  during  the  pontificate  of 
Innocent  III.  But  the  fury  of  the  just  persecution,  and 
the  death  of  their  protector,  John  Count  of  Toulouse,  were 
the  cause  of  their  rapid  spread  in  many  parts  of  Europe, 
especially  in  Italy,  namely  Piedmont,  Sicily,  Apulia  and 
even  in  Rome  and  its  environs.71  Gregory  IX  pursued 
them  with  great  ardor,  and  even  imprisoned  some  of  them 
in  Monte  Casino.72  As  these  heretics  led  by  an  evil  spirit 
were  proclaiming  reform  and  were  striving  to  effect  the 
same  in  themselves  by  their  cynical  poverty  and  contempt 
for  all  earthly  goods,  so  St.  Francis  led  by  the  spirit  God, 
as  an  antidote  for  the  decline  of  the  monastic  orders,  prac- 
tised poverty  which  their  riches  forbade.  The  Friars 
Minor  and  the  heretics  at  this  epoch  had  one  common  ob- 
ject; the  former  tended  to  it  by  sanctity,  the  latter  by  re- 
bellion. For  which  reason,  if  there  was  dissension  in  a 
body  of  the  friars,  those  who  caused  the  disorder  and  be- 
came wicked  could  necessarily  border  on  heresy  without 
leaving  the  community.  And  just  as  heretics  are  ever  in 
bad  repute,  and  as  no  monk  though  sharing  their  senti- 
ments would  wish  to  be  contaminated  by  association  with 
them,  so  it  could  happen  that  rebellious  friars,  persevering 
in  their  obstinacy  could  institute  a  new  distinctive  sect, 
different  in  name  from  those  mentioned  above  but  the  same 
in  nature.  This  is  the  reason  why  there  is  such  disagree- 
ment among  writers  concerning  the  true  founder  of  the 
sect  of  the  Fraticelli,  since  it  was  not  instituted  by  a  man, 
but  was  founded  on  a  fact.  This  fact  was  the  dissensions 
created  in  the  Franciscan  Order  by  those  over-zealous 
friars,  who,  scandalized  because  the  primitive  severity  of 
rule  was  relaxed,  rebelled  against  their  legitimate  super- 
iors, and  proud  of  being  the  true  sons  of  St.  Francis,  they 
left  their  monasteries,  apostatizing  or  instituting  new  so- 
cieties. These  exiles  untractable  to  their  superiors  and  to 
the  Popes  secured  the  protection  of  Pope  Celestine  V,  as 

™  Benoist.  History  of  the  Albigensian  heresy.  Book  I.   n  Benoist.  History 
of  the  Waldensians.  n  Richard  a  St.  Germain.  Chron.  year  1251. 


178  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

we  have  seen,  and  already  in  1296  there  was  in  Palestrina 
a  monastery  of  these  Celestine  Hermits,  or  Franciscans  of 
strict  observance,  among  whom  was  Friar  Jacopone  of 
Todi.73  When  Pope  Boniface  withdrew  all  the  privileges 
of  his  predecessor  and  these  hermits  were  suppressed,  they 
began  to  bear  resentment  against  Boniface,  as  we  shall 
see  when  we  shall  speak  of  Jacopone.  The  other  zealots 
among  the  friars  devoted  themselves  to  preaching  danger- 
ous and  faulty  doctrine,  and  to  the  formation  of  a  sect, 
which  was  called  the  Fraticelli,  (the  Little  Brothers),  as 
it  were  the  more  humble  friars;  and  the  Brothers  of  the 
free  Spirit,  signifying  that  they  were  free  to  practise  per- 
fect poverty  without  any  opposition;  in  Italy,  France, 
Germany  and  Flanders  they  are  known  also  by  other 
names,  which  always  indicated  some  virtue  of  St.  Francis 
travestied  and  disfigured  by  them.  In  fact  that  shameful 
act  of  appearing  naked,  and  declaring  that  the  best  prayers 
are  those  said  while  in  that  state,  were  a  corrupt  reminis- 
cence, a  parody  of  the  action  attributed  to  St.  Francis, 
who  through  humility  went  out  naked  into  the  street  to 
preach  with  Friar  Juniper.74  So  although  the  Irish  Fran- 
ciscan Anthony  Hickey,  highly  praised  by  Wading,75  ex- 
erted himself  strenuously  to  prove  in  a  book  entitled76 
"  Nitela  Franciscanae  Religionis,"  that  no  Franciscan  was 
the  founder  of  the  Fraticelli  sect,  yet  we  must  admit  that 
the  revolt  of  these  zealous,  but  unruly  and  disobedient 
friars,  gave  rise  to  this  heresy. 

Now  the  schism  having  arisen  in  the  Franciscan  Order, 
it  begot  two  kinds  of  enemies  for  Boniface,  the  devotees, 
or  Celestine  Hermits,  and  the  Fraticelli.  The  enmity  of 
the  first  to  Boniface  was  personal,  because  he  compelled 
them  to  discontinue  their  singular  and  dangerous  manner 
of  living;  and  the  enmity  of  the  others  was  directed 
against  the  Papacy,  because  it  pursued  them  vigorously, 
and  declared  them  extinct.77  The  former,  reputed  as  per- 

78  Marini.  Memor.  of  Palestrina  year  1294.  M  Fioretti  di  S.  Franc. 

(Flosculi)  TO  The  writers  of  the  Franciscan  Order  page  13,  Roman 

edition,  1630.  w  Lyons  1627.  sumpt.  Claude  Landry. 

7T  St.  Antoninus  Chron.  Par.  3  tit.  21  c.  5,  &  I  "  Constituentes  sibi  Papam, 
vel  potius  Antichristum,  Episcopos  et  sacerdotes,  etc."  And  Sander, 
Hersey  180  declares  them  to  say:  "Nullum  fuisse  Pontificem  vere  Vicar- 
jum  Christi,  nisi  eos  qui  paupertatem  Christi  imitati  sunt.  For  that 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  179 

feet  friars  by  the  people  in  general,  had  supreme  sway  over 
them;  and  the  latter  had  the  same  power  over  the  large 
number  of  their  followers  and  abettors.  Vile  slanderers 
of  Boniface,  they  found  a  reason  for  their  slanders  that 
doubt  which  was  cast  over  the  legitimacy  of  his  elevation 
to  the  Papacy,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  abdication  of 
Pope  Celestine;  and  they  succeeded  marvellously  in  con- 
verting into  a  certainty  that  which  was  pending  in  the 
changeable  minds  of  the  people.  And  if  Boniface  had 
such  formidable  enemies,  they  were  these  insolent  friars 
and  those  impure  Fraticelli,  who  aroused  public  opinion 
against  Boniface  in  the  very  beginning  of  his  Pontificate, 
being  urged  on  by  the  Ghibellines,  in  the  same  manner 
those  seditions  Colonnas  incited  against  Boniface  the 
higher  classes  of  cities  and  courts,  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
later.  Therefore  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  name  of  this 
Pope  had  been  handed  down  to  us  loaded  with  such  in- 
famy, since  he  has  not  had  time  to  triumph  over  the  false 
opinions,  and  be  presented  in  his  true  character. 

From  these  details  it  appears  to  us  that  these  impru- 
dently zealous  friars,  who  called  themselves  Celestine 
Hermits  should  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the 
heretical  Fraticelli.  We  say  this  because  we  do  not  wish 
to  bring  disgrace  on  the  blessed  memory  of  Friar  Jaco- 
pone,  who  was  one  of  the  former,  and  of  whom  it  may  be 
well  for  us  to  say  something,  inasmuch  as  he  was  one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  powerful  enemies  of  Boniface. 
Jacopo,  or  James,  afterwards  called  Jacopone  in  derision, 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Todi,  of  the  noble  family  Benedet- 
toni.  Well  educated  in  the  science  of  law,  he  adopted  the 
profession  of  a  lawyer,  and  being  very  skilful  in  legal  pro- 
ceedings, he  became  very  famous,  and  was  much  sought 
after.  In  fact  he  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  favors  of  fortune 
and  the  pleasures  of  this  miserable  world.  He  espoused  a 
young  lady,  who  by  nobility  of  race  and  perfection  of 
mind  and  body,  was  in  herself  of  priceless  worth;  but  to 
him  also  she  was  truly  a  treasure  for  the  betterment  of  his 
soul.  But  although  she  was  wont  to  appear  outwardly 

reason  they  declared  themselves  the  only  true  poor  of  Christ,  and  five 
Fraticelli  priests  and  thirteen  Beguins  created  Pope  a  certain  Friar  from 
Province  Dodecis. — Bernini,  History  of  the  Heresies  of  the  XIII  century, 
chapter  XVI  Tom.  3,  page  409. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

a  woman  of  the  world  so  as  not  to  displease  Jacopone  who 
was  all  engrossed  in  worldly  things,  yet  she  bore  in  her 
bosom  a  heart  entirely  devoted  to  God.  Now  it  happened 
one  day  that  being  invited  by  some  ladies  to  go  to  an 
entertainment,  to  please  her  husband  she  consented;  but 
secretly  she  resolved  to  avoid  certain  pitfalls,  which  are 
always  to  be  feared  by  virtuous  matrons  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. And  lo!  when  the  entertainment  was  at  its 
height,  the  floor  suddenly  gave  way  and  there  was  not  one 
among  that  group  of  matrons  who  was  not  seriously 
injured  and  unconscious.  At  the  sad  news  Jacopone  hur- 
ried to  the  spot  and  found  his  wife.  She  was  not  dead ;  she 
still  breathed.  Hoping  to  revive  her  he  began  to  loosen  her 
clothing;  she  resisted  with  her  hands,  though  she  could 
not  speak;  she  did  not  wish  to  be  exposed  to  public  view. 
Then  raising  her  in  his  arms  he  bore  her  to  a  room  near 
by,  and  removing  the  rich  garments  he  found  she  wore 
underneath  a  rough  hairshirt.  This  sight,  together  with 
the  death  of  his  beloved  wife  filled  the  afflicted  mind  of 
Jacopone  with  such  a  vivid  realization  of  the  transitory 
nature  of  all  earthly  things,  that  he  almost  lost  his  senses. 
Then  comforted  by  the  example  of  his  holy  wife,  he  gave 
himself  wholly  to  God;  and  as  formerly  he  had  eagerly 
sought  for  bodily  pleasures  and  for  human  applause,  he 
now  determined  to  chastise  his  body  and  to  accept  all 
contempt  in  order  to  stifle  within  him  the  lust  for  vain- 
glory. So  intent  was  his  mind  on  this  resolution,  that 
dispossessing  himself  of  his  goods,  he  gave  them  to  the 
poor  and  went  on  the  streets  feigning  himself  a  fool  for 
the  love  of  Christ;  for  which  he  wras  mocked  and  derided 
by  children,  and  from  that  time  he  was  no  longer  called 
Jacopo  (James)  but  Jacopone  (silly  James).  At  one  time 
he  appeared  to  the  populace  assembled  for  a  public  exhibi- 
tion, nude  to  the  waist,  walking  on  all  fours,  with  a  bit  in 
his  mouth  and  a  saddle  on  his  back  like  a  horse.  On  an- 
other occasion  after  besmearing  his  naked  body  with  honey 
and  then  rolling  in  feathers  so  as  to  cover  his  entire  body 
with  them,  he  suddenly  rushed  in  like  a  wild  beast  among 
a  company  of  nobles  celebrating  the  nuptials  of  his  niece ; 
they  admiring  his  humility  could  not  but  believe  he  was  a 
saint,  and  not  a  madman.78  He  entered  the  Order  of  St. 

78  Wading  Annals  of  Friars  Minor  Vol.  3,  pages  408,  409. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Francis,  and  to  convince  the  friars  that  he  was  not  really 
foolish,  he  wrote  and  delivered  a  treatise  on  contempt  of 
the  world,  which  proved  that  he  was  in  his  right  mind. 
He  suffered  much  from  the  friars  and  bore  it  all  for  the 
love  of  God.  He  had  a  fiery  soul  capable  of  great  affec- 
tion. His  mind  was  acute,  and  his  imagination  lively. 
In  a  word  he  was  a  man  who,  if  he  had  lived  in  the  time 
of  the  Council  of  Clermont,  could  by  himself  have  aroused 
a  Crusade.  Hence  his  poems  are  fervent  though  crude; 
his  verses  are  harsh  and  irreverent,  and  his  ascetical 
works  are  mystical  and  at  times  obscure.  Hitherto  Jaco- 
pone  had  been  acknowledged  a  good  friar  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Italian  language,  but  from  a  close  inspec- 
tion of  his  writings,  it  seems  to  us  that  he  was  among  that 
number  of  distinguished  men  who  solemnly  gave  expres- 
sion to  our  Catholic  religion  in  those  first  movements  of 
an  age  advancing  in  civilization.  St.  Thomas,  preeminent 
for  his  angelic  intellect;  Dante  for  his  creative  power  of 
imagination ;  Giotto  and  Blessed  Angelico  for  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  beautiful,  who  transcending  the  roughness  of 
forms  appeared  more  heavenly  than  earthly;  and  Jaco- 
pone  for  his  warm  language  of  the  heart,  had  forcibly 
and  simply  outlined  religion  for  future  ages,  and  had 
shown  it  could  be  the  mother  of  wonders,  when  the  mind 
and  its  conceptions  were  vivified  by  our  holy  religion. 
Having  spoken  of  Jacopone,  we  shall  now  return  to  the 
stormy  times  of  Boniface. 

A  people  who  has  just  been  delivered  from  a  hateful 
subjection  is  always  high-spirited  and  courageous;  unity 
of  sentiment  adds  strength,  and  the  fear  of  the  evil  from 
which  they  escaped  gives  constancy.  And  such  were  the 
Sicilians;  in  the  transports  of  a  liberty  they  believed  they 
had  found,  they  desired,  more  than  Frederick  himself,  the 
preservation  of  his  crown,  which  to  him  too  was  so  dear. 
Their  army  was  very  powerful,  because  like  members 
closely  united  in  the  same  body,  prince  and  people  had 
but  one  heart,  but  one  arm,  but  one  impulse  to  repel  the 
common  enemy;  and  besides  they  were  skilfully  led; 
Roger  of  Loria,  the  first  captain  of  the  age  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  war  was  still  in  the  service  of  Frederick.  To 
oppose  the  Sicilians  Charles  II  did  not  have  a  people  who 
like  them  were  aroused  by  hope  or  fear;  Boniface  having 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

exhausted  against  the  enemy  the  spiritual  arms,  which 
they  despised,  had  no  one  else  to  depend  on  but  James  of 
Aragon.  The  affairs  of  Charles  were  in  a  bad  condition, 
and  the  Pontiff  was  vainly  pressing  James  to  come  to 
Italy.  Annoyed  by  troubles  in  Murcia  and  Castile,  and 
deterred  by  the  perplexity  of  the  situation  in  which  he 
was  placed,  on  the  one  hand  by  the  offers  of  Boniface,  and 
on  the  other  by  the  great  advantage  it  would  be  to  Aragon 
to  maintain  Frederick  on  the  throne  of  Sicily,  James 
could  not  come  to  a  decision.  We  do  not  say  that  some 
interior  voice  of  relationship  restrained  him  from  waging 
war  on  Frederick,  for  this  voice  to  a  mind  inured  to  the 
ever  present  desires  of  unrestrained  ambition  is  like  a 
gentle  zephyr  directed  against  a  rock.  However,  although 
he  did  not  appear  in  Italy,  still  secretly  and  by  embassies 
he  advised  his  brother  to  leave  Sicily  and  the  Sicilians  to 
withdraw  their  support  from  him.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  autumn  of  1296  Friar  Peter  of  Corbelles,  a  Domi- 
nican monk,  was  sent  as  legate  by  James  to  Frederick, 
bearing  mild  and  harsh  messages;  namely  urged  the  king 
to  make  peace  with  Mother  Church,  who  had  so  exalted 
the  house  of  Aragon  by  creating  James  the  Standard 
Bearer  and  Admiral;  to  agree  to  an  interview  with  his 
brother  in  the  island  of  Ischia;  to  follow  his  advice,  for 
if  he  remained  obstinate,  a  sign  from  the  Pope  would 
suffice  to  declare  war,  and  make  it  terribly  effective 
against  the  enemies  of  the  Holy  See.  The  nobles  who  sur- 
rounded the  young  king  looked  dubiously  upon  the  pro- 
ject of  an  interview  with  his  brother,  to  which  opinion 
Frederick  also  agreed.  He  dismissed  the  legate,  and  sub- 
mitted the  matter  to  a  parliament  which  he  summoned 
to  meet  in  Piazza.79 

Friar  Peter  had  come  openly  as  a  messenger,  others 
came  with  a  secret  mission  to  tempt  the  scornful  mind  of 
Roger  of  Loria  and  the  maternal  heart  of  Constance. 
Other  private  envoys  had  been  sent  to  Frederick  and  to 
the  principal  cities  of  the  Island,  but  they  accomplished 
nothing;  yet  it  was  more  than  a  victory  to  have  disengaged 
Roger  from  Frederick  and  to  have  converted  Constance 
to  the  side  of  Rome.  In  the  parliament  of  Piazza  as  soon 
as  the  propositions  of  James  were  disclosed,  they  were 

"Special.    Book  3,  chaps.  12,  13,  14. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  183 

rejected,  and  the  departure  of  Frederick  would  not  be  en- 
tertained. The  contrary  opinion  of  Roger  of  Loria  did 
nothing  more  than  to  conform  them  in  their  opinion,  that 
he  was  already  wholly  devoted  to  Aragon. 

The  winter  having  passed  in  useless  discussion,  towards 
the  end  of  March  the  expected  James  of  Aragon  finally 
arrived  in  Rome.  He  came  full  of  hopes,  as  Boniface  had 
enticed  him  by  munificent  promises.  Boniface  received 
him  cordially;  his  wrelcome  was  a  magnificent  one.  The 
arrival  of  the  king  in  Rome  brought  also  Charles  II  of 
Naples,  and  the  good  Constance,  the  last  descendant  of 
the  House  of  Suabia,  whose  heart  must  have  been  divided, 
seeing  herself  situated  between  her  two  beloved  sons  bent 
upon  waging  a  war  against  each  other.  There  appeared 
also  those  two  famous  men,  John  of  Procida  and  Roger  of 
Loria.  Having  left  the  service  of  Frederick,  they  came 
to  Rome  to  bow  their  proud  heads  to  Boniface,  who  re- 
moved the  censures  they  had  incurred.  Frederick  also 
was  invited  but  he  refused  to  come.  It  was  a  great  meet- 
ing of  distinguished  persons,  and  great  was  the  matter 
they  were  called  upon  to  discuss.  Boniface  rejoiced  when 
he  saw  at  his  feet  the  father  of  the  Sicilian  revolution,  and 
the  terrible  Roger  of  Loria  who  confirmed  it  by  his  valor. 
He  beheld  Constance  who  was  mother,  and  he  made  use  of 
her  maternal  influence  to  move  the  hearts  of  James  and 
Frederick.  He  beheld  the  Aragonese  and  Angevine 
princes,  and  with  all  the  strength  of  the  Papal  power  he 
endeavored  to  urge  and  enjoin  them  to  reconquer  Sicily 
for  the  Church.  He  opened  his  mind  to  those  assembled. 
The  hatred  between  France  and  Aragon  was  of  long 
standing.  The  Aragonese  prince  was  the  one  who  had 
received  the  crown  of  Sicily  after  the  bloody  Vespers. 
Boniface  in  the  first  place  wished  to  reconcile  James  with 
Charles  by  a  relationship  by  marriage.  Jolanda,  the  sister 
of  James,  was  given  in  marriage  to  Robert,  the  son  of 
Charles.  Royal  nuptials,  and  equally  magnificent  royal 
feastings  were  celebrated  in  the  Papal  palace.  Then  they 
proceeded  to  more  important  affairs ;  and  the  Pontiff  dealt 
generously  with  James  by  bestowing  all  manner  of  favors 
on  him. 

On  the  last  day  of  December,  1296,80  he  had  addressed 

80  Raynaldus  year  1297  no.  2  and  following. 


184  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

to  him  letters  expressing  certain  projects  which  he  had 
formed  in  his  favor  and  which  were  to  go  into  effect  in 
this  year,  James  being  present.  It  was  a  magnificent 
treaty,  which  Surita  also  relates,81  by  which  James  was  to 
become  king  over  other  lands,  and  more  closely  united, 
and  as  it  were,  one  with  the  Pontiff.  This  is  the  substance 
of  it.  The  Popes  claimed  Corsica  and  Sardinia  as  belong- 
ing to  them.  This  claim,  however,  was  disputed  in  the 
year  1238,  when  Frederick  II  made  his  illegitimate  son 
Enzio  king  of  those  islands,  espousing  him  to  Adelaide, 
the  heiress  of  the  two  domains  of  Torre  and  Gallura. 
Koine  protested  vehemently,  yet  Sardinia  was  not  de- 
tached from  the  Empire.  But  Rudolph,  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans, in  the  year  1275,  wishing  to  be  anointed  and  crowned 
Emperor  by  Pope  Gregory  X,  presented  himself  to  him  in 
the  church  of  Lausanne,82  and  promised  under  a  solemn 
oath  to  restore  to  the  Church  the  Romagna  and  the  exar- 
chate of  Ravenna,  to  defend  her  claim  to  Sicily,  to  respect 
her  rights,  to  be  most  obedient  to  her,  and  finally  he 
acknowledged  in  the  same  solemn  manner  her  dominion 
not  only  over  Sicily,  but  also  over  Sardinia  and  Corsica.83 
Therefore  without  difficulty  Boniface  could  dispose  of 
these  islands  in  the  present  year,  and  he  solemnly  invested 
James  and  his  descendants  with  the  golden  cup  (per 
cuppam  auream).  The  conditions  on  which  the  king 
bound  himself  to  Rome  were :  that  he  was  to  pay  homage 
to  the  Church  as  her  vassal;  to  maintain  in  Italy  at  his 
own  expense  in  the  service  of  the  Pope  one  hundred  well 
equipped  knights,  each  one  having  besides  an  armored 
horse  at  least  two  other  animals  to  ride ;  five  hundred  foot 
soldiers  well  provided  with  arms,  of  whom  a  hundred  at 
least  should  be  archers,  all  to  be  either  Catalans,  or 
Aragonese;  and  their  service  was  to  last  three  months, 
counting  the  time  from  the  day  on  which  they  set  foot  in 
Italy.  And  in  case  there  would  be  need  of  a  fleet  instead 
of  an  army,  he  could  require  instead  of  the  soldiers  five 

81  Surita.  An.  Book  2.  w  Annals.  Colmar.  year  1275— Ptolemy  of 

Lucca.  Church  History,  book  13,  chap.  4. 

83 "  Adjutores  erimus  ad  retinendum  et  defendendum  Ecclesiae  Romanae 
Regnum  Siciliae  cum  omnibus  ad  earn  spectatibus,  turn  citra  farum,  quam 
ultra ;  necnon  Corsicam  et  Sardinian!,  ac  caetera  jura  quae  ad  earn  pertinere 
noscuntur."  Raynaldus  year  1275  no.  38. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

galleys  well  equipped  with  men  and  ammunition ;  whether 
the  force  was  to  be  a  land  or  naval  one,  the  king  would  be 
obliged  to  send  it  at  once  at  a  command  from  the  Pope 
every  year  for  a  three-months  service.  He  and  his  succes- 
sors were  to  pay  forever  to  the  Pope  an  annual  tribute  of 
two  thousand  silver  marks  of  good  and  honest  money.  He 
or  any  heir  delaying  or  refusing  to  pay,  the  following 
punishment  was  without  delay  to  be  inflicted :  the  Prince 
would  be  excommunicated,  then  an  interdict  would  be 
placed  on  the  kingdom,  and  finally  he  would  be  deprived 
of  his  fief.  Sardinia  was  never  to  be  separated  from 
Aragon;  and  if  the  king  should  become  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, it  was  to  revert  immediately  to  the  Church.  The 
king  was  to  preserve  the  liberty  and  the  immunities  of  the 
new  kingdom ;  he  was  not  to  close  the  way  of  appeal  to  the 
Papal  Curia;  he  was  not  to  tax  the  churches;  he  was  not 
to  interfere  in  the  election  of  bishops;  upon  the  discovery 
of  laws  detrimental  to  the  Church  he  was  to  annul  them; 
he  was  not  to  think  of  taking  any  office  in  Kome,  or  in  any 
territory  whatsoever  subject  to  the  Roman  See;  he  was  to 
acknowledge  always  that  Sardinia  came  to  him  in  fief 
through  the  liberality  of  the  Pope;  and  he  was  to  under- 
stand that  any  doubt  arising  regarding  his  new  posses- 
sions was  to  be  solved  exclusively  by  the  Pope.  Finally 
Boniface  bound  James  by  a  solemn  oath  to  observe  the 
said  conditions,  and  the  king  whoever  he  might  be  should 
renew  them  to  each  new  Pontiff. 

It  was  thus  that  Boniface  enlarged  the  power  of  James, 
and  stipulated  that  he  was  not  to  overstep  the  limits 
marked  out.  It  was  a  wise  provision  to  reserve  the  return 
of  Sardinia  to  the  Holy  See  in  case  the  king  should  ever 
become  Emperor.  For  the  presence  of  an  emperor, 
already  powerful  in  Germany,  would  appear  improper 
and  as  well  full  of  dangers  in  an  island  close  to  Italy. 
Besides,  by  prohibiting  James  and  his  descendants,  in 
their  quality  as  kings  of  Sardinia,  from  holding  any  office 
whatsoever  in  Rome,  and  in  the  Roman  territory,  he  closed 
the  way  to  a  repetition  of  those  very  recent  ambitious 
projects  of  Charles  I  of  Anjou,  who  was  senator  of  Rome, 
the  dangers  and  the  sad  effects  of  which  were  too  well 
known  to  him.  In  a  word,  to  use  a  comparison,  he  capari- 
soned the  horse  well,  but  he  held  the  reins  in  his  own 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

hands  to  direct  him.  In  fact  the  subsidies  promised  by 
James  were  certain,  since  he  was  to  furnish  them  without 
conditions;  and  likewise  certain  were  his  obligations 
regarding  Sicily;  but  the  sovereignty  over  Sardinia  was 
uncertain,  not  by  right  but  in  fact,  for  before  enjoying  it, 
he  had  to  conquer  the  Pisans.84  Boniface  stipulated  by 
another  act  that  he  could  withhold  the  grant  of  Sardinia 
until  the  feast  of  All  Saints.85  It  was  clear  by  this  that 
he  wanted  to  assure  himself  that  James  acted  sincerely, 
so  that  the  crown  of  Sardinia  would  be  suspended  over  his 
head.  For  if  he  would  be  a  good  servant  of  the  Holy  See, 
he  was  to  have  the  crown,  if  not,  the  Pope  was  to  with- 
draw it.  And  afterwards  if  James  was  victorious  over 
Frederick,  the  Pope  did  not  care  to  see  Sicily  fall  again 
into  his  hands,  for  thereby  a  way  would  be  open  to  James 
to  negotiate,  or  to  threaten,  that  the  Pope  must  give  up 
either  Sicily  or  else  Sardinia  and  Corsica.  Boniface 
knew  how  to  draw  up  a  treaty,  and  how  not  to  lose  by  it. 
In  this  treaty,  as  well  as  in  the  Bull  by  which  he  created 
James  Gonfalonier  and  Admiral  of  the  Holy  See,  the 
matter  of  the  Holy  Land  was  mentioned,  so  that  the  Pope 
might  seem  to  have  James  in  readiness  only  for  the  libera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Sepulcher.  Many,  following  the  opinion 
of  Surita,86  perceive  in  this  provision  an  artifice  of  Boni- 
face to  draw  all  attention  to  the  East,  whilst  his  whole 
mind  and  efforts  were  directed  towards  Sicily.  But  this 
was  not  a  secret  artifice ;  he  worked  openly  against  Sicily, 
and  so  he  could  not  be  accused  of  covert  actions.  It  is 
true  his  eyes  were  turned  towards  the  East,  but  owing  to 
the  unsettled  condition  of  Sicily,  his  first  wish  was  to 
obtain  possession  of  that  island,  and  afterwards  to  attack 
the  Turks,  which  present  and  future  undertakings  he  en- 
trusted to  James  of  Aragon,  when  he  made  him  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Church.  Therefore  after  all  things  were 
settled,  each  one  departed  to  assume  the  respective  offices 
to  which  they  were  assigned.  James  went  to  Catalonia 
to  prepare  the  army;  ranged  under  the  standard  of 
Charles,  and  contented  with  lands  and  the  castle  of  Aci, 
which  the  Pope  had  given  him  in  fief,  Roger  de  Loria  went 
to  resume,  in  the  waters  of  Naples,  the  sceptre  of  the 

"Villani,  Book  8,  c.  18.  "Raynaldus,  n.  17. 

*•  Surita,  Annals,  book  5,  chap.  35. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

sea;87  John  of  Procida,  whose  lands  in  the  kingdom  of, 
Naples  were  restored  to  him,  remained  in  Rome  with  the 
disconsolate  Constance,  who  is  said  to  have  died  there. 
Some  others  hold  that  five  years  later  she  died  in  Barce- 
lona, and  was  buried  there  in  the  Franciscan  church. 

While  Boniface  was  striving  to  overturn  the  throne  of 
Frederick,  the  latter  was  busy  in  arousing  enemies  against 
him  by  hidden  means.  He  knew  how  very  powerful  the 
Roman  patriciate  was,  and  how  troublesome  they  were 
always  to  the  Pontiffs.  He  remembered  how  turbulent 
and  quarrelsome  the  Frangipanni  were  when  Henry  VIII 
attacked  Rome.  He  remembered  well  how  devoted  the 
Frangipanni  and  the  Colonnas  were  to  Frederick  II  in 
fomenting  intestine  calamity  of  the  Church.  He  knew 
how  in  times  of  great  danger  a  mortal  blow  could  be  given 
a  Prince  by  one  of  his  own  countrymen.  Therefore  he  set 
about  to  ascertain  how  many  of  these  Roman  nobles  he 
could  lead  over  to  his  cause  and  urge  to  assail  Boniface. 
The  Gaetani,  the  Savelli,  the  Orsini,  the  Colonna,  and 
other  very  powerful  families,  whose  towers  and  castles  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Rome  were  always  offensive  and  a 
menace  to  the  Popes,  were  proud-minded,  and  ready  for 
every  feat  of  arms,  whether  in  defence  of  themselves  when 
summoned  to  justice  by  the  Popes,  or  when  the  desire  of 
fame  impelled  them  to  break  the  peace.  These  barons 
were  avaricious  of  whatever  benefit  could  be  derived  from 
a  feudal  possession  in  the  Middle  Ages.  They  had  vassals 
who  were  engaged  not  in  peaceful  agricultural  pursuits, 
but  in  those  inglorious  and  barbarous  tournaments.  On 
their  roving  through  the  state  they  became  the  seducers 
of  the  people,  whom  they  made  serve  as  instruments  for 
gaining  power  or  possessions;  and  they  were  also  hostile 
to  the  Popes.  Every  prince,  who  was  an  honest  dispenser 
of  justice,  could  in  time  of  a  foreign  war  shut  himself  up 
within  the  confines  of  his  own  state  and  there  quietly 
and  securely  observe  the  course  of  events;  but  the  Pope, 
exposed  to  complications  from  without,  had  moreover 
always  reason  to  fear  from  those  within.  In  fact  this  was 
the  reason  why  Boniface  dwelt  for  a  time  at  Anagni,  then 
at  Orvieto,  and  then  at  Velletri;  he  was  always  on  his 
guard  against  these  powerful  forces  who  could  at  any 

"Special.  Book  3,  chap.  20-21-22. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

time,  like  the  wind,  arouse  the  people  against  him.  Among 
these  powerful  families,  the  Colonnas  stood  preeminent, 
for  on  account  of  the  excessive  favors  heaped  upon  them 
by  Nicholas  IV,  a  Colonna,  they  were  advanced  to  the 
highest  offices  of  the  state,  and  were  supported  by  Peter 
and  James  Colonna,  Cardinals  of  Holy  Church.  But  that 
we  may  proceed  with  order  to  relate  the  occurrences  that 
passed  between  Boniface  and  the  Colonnas,  it  will  be  well 
to  start  from  the  beginning  of  the  trouble. 

In  the  year  1201  the  leading  members  of  the  Colonna 
family  were  Giordano  and  Oddone,  whom  we  shall  call 
Oddone  II,  to  distinguish  him  from  others  of  the  same 
name.  They  were  perhaps  sons  of  Oddone,  lord  of  Pales- 
trina,  and  they  were  masters  of  this  place  and  also  of 
Colonna,  Zagarolo,  Gallicano,  and  of  the  territory  of  St. 
Constance  and  St.  John  in  Camporario,  which  were  in- 
habited in  those  days.88  Giordano  had  a  son  Peter,  the 
other  had  a  son  called  Oddone  III.  These  sons  being 
cousins  and  enjoying  the  inheritance  conjointly,  began  to 
quarrel  over  their  patrimony.  In  the  year  1252,89  the 
Prefect  of  Rome  undertook  to  pacify  them,  assigning  to 
each  one  his  proper  portion;  but  they  were  not  satisfied, 
and  shamefully  renewed  the  quarrel.  Finally  a  certain 
John,  a  Dominican  Friar  and  a  relative,  was  chosen  ar- 
biter, and  sat  in  judgment  and  divided  the  lands.  To 
Peter  he  awarded  the  territory  of  Gallicano,  St.  Cesarius, 
and  Camporario ;  to  Oddone  that  of  Palestrina,  Capranica, 
Colonna  and  other  fiefs.  This  is  taken  from  a  document 
published  by  Patrini,  which  was  found  in  the  archives 
of  the  Constable  Colonna.  It  is  evident  that  the  most 
powerful  Colonnas  were  those  of  Palestrina,  whose  head 
was  Oddone  III,  and  it  is  the  deeds  of  his  descendants 
that  shall  be  subject  of  our  present  narrative.  Giordano, 
son  of  Oddone  III,  had  five  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
James,  now  a  Cardinal,  the  second  John,  the  third  Od- 
done, the  fourth  Matthew,  and  the  fifth  Landolph,  and 
they  were  the  possessors  of  rich  lands,  named  Palestrina, 
Mount  Capranica,  Colonna,  Zagarola,  besides  the  half  of 
the  villa  of  Pietraporto,  and  the  estate  of  Algido.  In 
order  to  bring  things  to  a  peaceful  solution  these  brothers 

88  Patrini.  Mem.  Palestrina  year  1201,  page  132. 
"Patrini.  Mem.  Palestrina  year  1252,  page  135. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

by  mutual  consent  appointed  James,  the  Cardinal,  ad- 
ministrator of  their  property  in  an  attested  instrument 
dated  the  28th  of  April,  1252,90  which  Patrini  found  in  the 
Barberini  archives.  In  the  period  between  1292  and  1297 
John  Colonna,  the  second  son,  died,  leaving  his  posses- 
sions to  his  six  sons,  Peter,  a  Cardinal,  Stephen,  John, 
James,  nicknamed  Sciarra,  Oddone,  and  Agapitus.  Now 
it  happened  that  James  the  Cardinal,  by  the  authority 
which  his  brothers  had  given  him  for  the  administration 
of  the  common  inheritance,  had  made  himself  more  than 
master  of  it,  and  uniting  the  interests  of  his  nephews 
with  those  of  his  own,  robbed  his  brothers  of  their  prop- 
erty and  reduced  them  almost  to  poverty.91  Therefore 
this  James,  the  wicked  usurper,  and  his  nephews,  the  sons 
of  John,  were  the  sole  masters  of  the  Colonna  fiefs, 
and  for  that  reason  masters  of  Palestrina  also,  and  were 
those  whom  we  shall  soon  see  who  came  to  a  strife  with  the 
present  Pontiff. 

One  can  clearly  see  how  and  why  bad  feelings  were  en- 
gendered between  Boniface  and  the  Colonnas;  and  we 
hardly  know  what  to  say  about  those  very  divergent  opin- 
ions of  various  writers  concerning  the  cause  of  this  quar- 
rel. We  know  however  that  a  strong  attachment  to  a 
party  is  most  hostile  to  the  truth  of  an  historical  narra- 
tion. For  if  the  truth  be  displeasing  it  is  made  obscure, 
it  is  so  distorted  that  it  becomes  inaccurate;  or  it  is  al- 
lowed maliciously  to  wander  in  the  maze  of  conjecture,  in 
order  that  an  opinion  may  be  formed  according  to  the 
writer's  wish.  Many  historians  have  acted  in  this  man- 
ner through  malice  and  many  others  have  blindly  followed 
them  in  their  description  of  the  famous  quarrel  between 
Boniface  and  the  Colonnas.  Ferrettus  of  Vicenza,  and 
Pipin,  most  ardent  Ghibellines,  whose  opinion  many 
others  follow  who  glory  in  defaming  a  Pontiff,  declare  that 
Boniface  fostered  in  his  heart  the  strongest  hatred  against 
the  Colonna  family,  because  James  and  his  nephew  Peter 
Colonna,  had  not  given  him  their  votes  in  his  election  to 
the  Papacy.  On  the  contrary  St.  Antoninus  92  relates  that 
the  two  Colonna  Cardinals  were  the  first  to  give  Boniface 
their  votes.  This  is  the  true  opinion  and  it  is  supported 

90  See  document  at  end  of  book.  n  See  document  at  end  of  book. 

"Chronicles.    Year  1295,  par.  3,  title  20. 


190  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

by  a  fact.  For  if  from  that  time  an  enmity  had  existed  be- 
tween Boniface  and  the  two  Colonnas,  the  former  would 
not  have  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  when 
after  his  election  to  the  Papacy,  on  his  way  to  Rome,  he 
accepted  the  hospitality  of  James  at  Zagarolo,  and  James 
would  not  have  cordially  entertained  him.93  Nor  is  there 
any  proof  that  a  jealousy  existed  between  the  Gaetani  and 
the  Colonna  family  in  those  times,  and  afterwards  tyranni- 
cally prosecuted  by  Boniface.  There  is  no  truth  in  the 
statement  of  Benvenuto  of  Imola,  who  commenting  on  the 
twenty-seventh  canto  of  the  Inferno,  declares  that  the  fire 
of  hatred  between  the  Colonnas  and  Boniface  was  en- 
kindled by  the  snares  that  were  laid  to  seduce  the  wife  of 
James,  Sciarra  Colonna,  by  a  nephew  of  Boniface.  This 
villainy  of  a  Gaetani,  if  there  was  any  truth  in  it,  would 
not  have  been  passed  over  in  silence  by  the  infuriated 
Colonnas,  at  a  time  when  they  flooded  all  Europe  with 
calumnies  against  Boniface  and  his  family.  Their  silence 
on  this  point  proves  the  falsity  of  the  above  statements. 

But  examining  closely  the  documents  of  that  time,  it 
appears  to  us,  that  despite  the  expressed  opinion  that  the 
first  cause  of  these  terrible  differences  originated  with 
Boniface,  yet  from  these  records  it  is  made  clear  that  the 
first  scandal  arose  from  the  Colonnas.  And  in  fact  al- 
though peaceful  and  even  friendly  relations  had  existed 
between  Boniface  and  the  two  Colonna  Cardinals,  because 
of  the  influence  they  exercised  on  the  other  cardinals  to 
elect  him  Pope,  yet  among  the  Colonnas  themselves  there 
was  a  silent  war  which  did  not  break  out  in  open  violence 
owing  to  the  weakness  of  one  of  the  parties  and  the  great 
strength  of  the  other.  We  have  seen  how  James  Colonna, 
Cardinal  of  the  title  of  St.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  in  league 
with  his  five  nephews,  and  abusing  the  confidence  placed 
in  him  by  his  brothers,  when  they  confided  to  him  the 
administration  of  their  patrimony,  robbed  them  of  that 
which  he  should  have  preserved,  and  reduced  them  to  dire 
poverty.  Now  these  family  injustices  could  not  be  com- 
mitted so  secretly  as  to  escape  the  knowledge  of  Boniface, 

93 "  Et  post  electionem in  castro  tune  ipsorum   (Colum- 

nensium)  quod  Zagarolum  dicitur,  et  quod  per  dictum  Jacobum  tune 
temporis  tenebatur  ....  hospitati  fuerimus  confidenter.  Bull,  Ray- 
naldus,  year  1297,  no.  39. 


HISTORY   OP   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

for  the  reason  that  the  Colonna  family  was  very  prom- 
inent, and  he  was  a  severe  upholder  of  justice.  We  know 
not  whether  the  aggrieved  brothers  appealed  to  the  Papal 
Court,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Pope  interposed  his  pa- 
ternal offices  to  end  the  tyranny  of  the  Cardinal  and  their 
misery.  He  decreed  that  each  one  should  receive  his  por- 
tion of  the  patrimony;  that  the  administration  of  it  by 
James  should  cease;  and  some  assignment,  over  and  above 
what  was  due,  was  to  be  made  to  the  nephews,  so  as  to  dis- 
pose them  to  resign  what  they  had  usurped.  These  com- 
mands Boniface  made  to  the  Cardinal  and  his  nephews  in 
his  presence,  but  instead  of  recognizing  in  these  orders  the 
love  of  justice  or  the  infamy  of  their  injustice,  they  by  no 
means  were  disposed  to  surrender  their  plunder ;  and  spite- 
ful and  furious  with  rage,  they  left  the  presence  of  the 
Pontiff,  and  never  again  did  they  see  the  face  of  Boniface.94 
Among  the  nephews  of  the  angry  Cardinal  James,  there 
was  another  James,  nicknamed  Sciarra  (Quarrelsome). 
He  was  a  man  brutal  and  passionate  who  perhaps  more 
than  others  was  enraged  at  seeing  the  goods  of  his  uncles 
snatched  from  him.  Breathing  vengeance  on  the  Pontiff, 
who  had  regulated  the  matter  so  justly,  and  not  feeling 
ashamed,  nobleman  by  birth  as  he  was,  to  emulate  the  ac- 
tions of  the  most  barefaced  robber,  in  company  with  satel- 
lites, who  in  those  times  were  always  at  hand  for  the 
employ  of  these  violent  lords,  he  lay  in  wait  to  steal  the 
rich  treasure  of  the  Pope  as  it  was  being  brought  from 
Anagni  to  Rome.  It  consisted  of  a  large  sum  of  gold  and 
silver.95  The  attack  was  well-timed,  for  the  Papal  goods 
came  into  his  possession  and  he  brought  them  to  his  own 
house.  This  wicked  deed,96  the  truth  of  which  no  one 

M  Raynaldus,  year  1297,  no.  26.  *  Chronicles  Foroliv. 

** "  quod  Stefanus  de  Columna  suum  thesaurum  fuerat 

depredatus;  propter  quod  inter  ipsum  Bonifacium,  et  dictos  Columnensos 
summa  discordia  extitit  suscitata."  Amalaricus  S.  R.  I.  T.  3,  p.  435. — "  In 
Rome  there  was  the  greatest  division  and  war  between  Boniface  VIII  and 
the  Colonnas,  because  the  Colonnas  had  stolen  a  rich  treasure  from  the 
Pope."  Chronicles  of  Bologna  S.  R.  I.  T.  18,  page  301. — "  Eodem  anno 
Columnenses  Romani  accesserunt  et  derubaverunt  magnum  thesaurum 
auri  et  argenti  Domno  Papae  Bonifacio. — "  Chronic.  Estens.  tim.  15, 
page  344 — "  Nobiles  etim  de  Columna  inimicos  habebat,  contra  quos  pro- 
cessit,  quia  Stephanus  de  Columna  ipsius  Papae  fuerat  proedatus  the- 
saurum."—  (George  Stella,  Annals  of  Genoa,  Book  2,  torn,  18,  p.  1020.) 


192  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

denies,  was  done  not  by  a  man  reduced  to  desperate  straits, 
nor  one  who  pursued  the  ways  of  a  highwayman,  but  by 
a  noble  and  very  rich  lord  unaccustomed  to  robbery. 
Hence  revenge,  which  blinded  and  covered  Colonna  with 
such  infamy,  prompted  him  to  commit  this  wicked  deed. 
It  is  well  to  remark  that  the  Pope  made  no  mention  of  this 
grievous  injury  in  the  Bull,  "  Praeteritorum  temporum,"  9T 
where  he  complains  of  all  the  evil  deeds  of  the  Colonnas, 
as  it  were  to  show  that  he  minded,  not  what  was  done  to 
him  privately,  but  the  evil  done  to  the  Church.98 

Wherefore  having  seen  the  bad  disposition  of  the  two 
Cardinals,  James  and  his  nephew  Peter,  and  of  the  other 
nephews,  and  having  been  convinced  by  the  robbery  at 
Anagni  that  this  was  a  family  that  it  would  be  well  not 
to  leave  unwatched  at  a  time  when  through  Rome  envoys 
of  Frederick  of  Sicily  were  roaming  intent  upon  tempting 
the  fidelity  of  his  subjects,  Boniface  determined  to  watch 
them  and  provide  against  the  consequences.  He  watched 
their  movements  attentively,  and  saw  how  well  they  re- 
ceived the  messengers  of  Frederick,  how  they  fraternized 
with  them  and  how  they  favored  them.  He  was  unwilling 
to  exasperate  them  by  inflicting  condign  punishment,  and 
so  tried  persuasion,  entreaty  and  threats;  but  they  fol- 
lowed their  own  will,  and  with  the  enemies  of  the  Church 
plotted  against  her.  James  of  Aragon  was  far  away  and 
was  slow  of  action;  Charles  of  Naples  was  powerless;  the 
Ghibellines  throughout  Italy  were  in  commotion  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  actions  of  the  Sicilians  and  the  machina- 
tions of  Frederick;  the  Pontiff  was  threatened  in  Rome 
itself;  then  Boniface  followed  a  course  of  action  that  any 
prudent  man  would  in  similar  circumstances.  He  re- 
quested the  Cardinals  James  and  Peter  Colonna  to  throw 
open  the  gates  of  Palestrina  and  Zagarolo,  and  allow  the 
soldiers  of  the  state  to  occupy  the  castles  of  those  strong- 
holds so  as  to  keep  out  enemies  of  the  Church.  This  was  a 
very  mild  request,  which  any  prince  had  a  right  to  make  in 
times  of  public  danger.  The  two  Cardinals  outwardly 
pretended  to  accede  to  the  request,  but  secretly  they  en- 
couraged and  assisted  their  nephews  who  answered  the 

97  See  Bull  at  end  of  book. 

"John  Villani,  Book  8th,  chap.  21 — Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  Short  annals 
6.'R.  I.  T.  XI.— Chronicles  Foroliv.  S.  R.  T.  Tom.  22. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  193 

Papal  request  with  a  downright  refusal.  The  mild  meas- 
ures of  Boniface  having  failed  to  bring  the  two  Cardinals 
to  a  right  way  of  acting,  their  perfidy  obliged  him  to  have 
recourse  to  severer  measures.  After  mature  deliberation 
he  determined  to  punish  them,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
resolved  to  go  slowly,  and  wait  for  developments.  He 
heard  that  the  Colonnas  were  aroused  to  indescribable 
anger,  and  had  vowed  the  most  desperate  vengeance  on 
him;  that  the  Cardinal  Peter  having  laid  aside  all  re- 
straint, was  eagerly  engaged  in  circulating  the  invalidity 
of  the  abdication  of  Pope  Celestine  and  hence  the  invalid- 
ity also  of  his  own  election  to  the  Papacy.  These  were 
poisonous  tares  which  could  bring  fruit  of  immense  evil 
to  the  Church.  He  feared  the  sad  consequences  of  a 
schism,  knowing  that,  by  the  presence  of  the  enemy  Fred- 
erick of  Sicily,  the  fury  of  the  Ghibelline  party,  and  the 
intolerance  of  the  Princes  of  his  rigorous  defence  of  the 
liberty  of  the  Church,  the  fuel  was  well  disposed  to  receive 
the  first  sparks  of  a  schism.  Still  he  refrained  from  pun- 
ishment. (Observe  his  moderation  and  forbearance.)  On 
the  fourth  day  of  May  he  sent  John  of  Palestrina,  the 
major-domo,  to  Cardinal  Peter,  to  tell  him  to  come  on  the 
evening  of  this  same  day,  to  declare  in  presence  of  some 
Cardinals,  if  he  believed  him  to  be  truly  Pope.  Peter  per- 
ceived that  this  was  evidently  to  draw  him  out  in  order 
the  better  to  convict  him,  and  he  refused  to  obey."  More- 
over considering  himself  unsafe,  he  departed  from  Rome 
with  his  uncle  James  and  some  of  his  brothers,  full  of 
threats  and  ready  to  perform  wicked  deeds.  Now  was  the 
time  to  proceed  to  punishment;  his  office  of  Pope  and 
prince  demanded  it.  He  held  a  consistory  on  the  4th,  of 
May.  He  made  known  the  faults  of  the  Colonnas,  their 
stubbornness  and  obduracy  to  all  his  admonitions  and  en- 
treaties; and  after  taking  counsel  with  the  Cardinals,  he 
passed  sentence,  to  wit:  that  James  Colonna,  Cardinal  of 
the  title  of  St.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  and  Peter,  of  the  title  of 
St.  Eustachio,  Cardinal-Deacons,  would  be  deprived  of 
the  dignity  of  Cardinal,  of  the  priestly  office,  and  would 
incur  solemn  excommunication,  if  at  the  end  of  ten  days 
they  did  not  appear  before  the  Papal  See  and  submit  to 

"Histoire    du   diff.   ent.    Bonif.  VIII  et  Philip,  p.  33.  Appendix  torn. 
VIII. 


194  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

its  will;  all  their  real  and  personal  property  in  the  Nea- 
politan kingdom  as  well  as  in  the  States  of  the  Church 
would  be  seized;  the  descendants  of  John  and  Oddone 
nephews  of  the  Cardinals  as  far  as  the  fourth  generation 
would  be  excluded  from  the  priesthood ;  this  same  excom- 
munication would  be  incurred  by  anyone  taking  sides  with 
Cardinals  James  and  Peter;  and  if  any  one,  whether  Car- 
dinal or  of  any  other  dignity,  dared  to  be  their  abettor  of 
them  in  felony  and  schism,  they  would  be  deprived  of 
their  office  and  property;  and  those  countries  would  be 
interdicted  that  would  receive  them.100 

To  some  reader  these  punishments  may  seem  exceedingly 
harsh,  and  he  may  suppose  that  calm  reason  in  the  mind  of 
the  Pope  had  been  displaced  by  a  hasty  exuberance  of 
anger.  But  in  the  course  of  this  narrative  we  shall  know 
better  what  was  the  true  character  of  the  Colonnas.  Boni- 
face already  fully  understood  them.  His  object  was  not 
to  humble  the  pride  of  a  Cardinal  only,  but  that  of  an  en- 
tire family  very  powerful  and  insolent,  on  account  of 
their  great  wealth  and  the  strong  castles  they  possessed 
at  the  very  gates  of  Rome.  Their  actions  under  similar 
circumstances  were  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  public. 
It  was  only  seventy  years  since  the  perilous  felony  of  an- 
other Cardinal  of  the  family,  John  Colonna,  who  received 
in  Palestrina  a  garrison  from  a  prince  of  Suabia,  and  had 
thereby  caused  much  vexation  to  Pope  Gregory  IX.  From 
that  time,  strongly  attached  as  they  were  to  the  Ghibel- 
line  party,  the  Colonnas  had  not  changed  their  spirit. 
And  besides,  that  scandalous  libel  they  spread  among  the 
faithful  concerning  the  validity  of  the  election  of  Boniface 
to  the  Papacjr,  showed  a  disposition  on  their  part  to  plot 
against  the  Church. 

Having  learned  of  the  terrible  consistory,  the  Colonnas 
on  the  same  day,  the  tenth  of  May,  convoked  a  wicked 
council  against  the  Pope  in  the  Lunghezza,  a  territory  be- 
longing to  the  Conti  family.  John  of  Gallicano,  an  apos- 
tolic writer;  Dominic  Leonard  of  Palestrina,  a  notary; 
and  two  Friars  Minor,  Diodatus  Kocci  of  Mt.  Prenestino 
and  Jacopone  of  Todi,  took  part  in  this  council.  For  what 
reason  the  former  two  came  to  this  conventicle,  we  know 
not,  unless  money  may  have  enticed  them.  We  are  sur- 

100  Bull  of  Boniface.    Raynaldus,  year  1297,  no.  27. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  195 

prised  at  Jacopone  and  the  other  Friar;  but  it  is  not  an 
idle  conjecture  for  us  to  say  that  because  Boniface  would 
not  approve  of  that  new  order  of  Celestine  Recluses,  of 
which  these  friars  were  members,  and  to  which  they  were 
much  attached,  they  were  prevailed  upon  to  enter  this 
schisrnatieal  company.  So  in  this  council  the  Colonnas, 
fuming  with  rage  decided  that  Leonard,  the  notary,  should 
draw  up  a  document,  in  which  he  would  declare  that  Car- 
dinal Colonna  had  not  wished  to  appear  before  Boniface 
through  fear  of  violence ;  and  to  the  request  of  the  Master 
of  the  Camera,  he  replied  that  Boniface  was  not  Pope, 
both  because  Celestine  could  not  abdicate,  and  because  his 
abdication  had  been  wrung  from  him  by  artifice.101  Oderic 
Raynaldus  had  in  his  possession  this  famous  libel,  which 
he  found  in  the  Avignon  archives  in  the  Vatican,  and 
which  he  published  in  the  appendix  to  the  third  volume 
of  his  Annals.102  This  document  we  shall  briefly  review. 
The  first  part  contains  the  greetings  of  Cardinals  James, 
of  the  St.  Maria  in  Via  Lata,  and  Peter,  of  the  title  of  St. 
Eustachius,  to  all  the  readers  of  this  public  instrument. 
Then  they  begin  by  referring  to  Boniface.  To  the  last 
words  of  his  rescript  they  frankly  reply  by  declaring  that 
he  is  not  the  legitimate  Pope.  This  fact  they  announce  to 
the  college  of  Cardinals,  and  they  request  them  to  remedy 
the  evil,  so  that  a  false  Pope,  may  not  usurp  the  place  of 
Christ,  for  the  Church  would  thus  suffer  by  an  illicit  and 
invalid  administration  of  the  Sacraments,  which  would 
take  place  through  an  illegitimate  and  false  minister. 
They  justify  their  attitude  in  the  statement :  "  Many  times 
"  we  have  heard  from  persons  of  repute  both  laymen  and 

101  It  is  well  to  remark  here  that  the  enemies  of  Boniface  either  inad- 
vertently or  maliciously  disarranged  the  chronology  of  facts,  and  said 
that  Boniface  was  the  first  to  display  harshness  in  the  Bull:  "  Praeteri- 
torum  temporum."  The  Colonnas  had  already  declared  Boniface  antipope, 
for  which  he  sent  to  them  his  Master  of  Camera  to  ascertain  the  truth  of 
this  declaration.  The  envoy  was  sent  on  the  4th  of  May,  and  the  Bull 
issued  on  the  Tenth  day  of  May,  when  after  being  summoned  to  appear, 
they  refused,  and  fled  from  Rome.  Then  the  Bull  was  published  against 
them  not  as  criminals,  but  as  contumacious  schismatics.  They  replied  to 
the  Bull  by  the  famous  Libel.  The  mind  must  follow  closely  the  chron- 
ology, otherwise  the  facts  change  in  appearance.  In  truth  if  the  Bull 
"  Praeteritorum  temporum"  may  seem  harsh  against  rebels,  it  is  not  so 
against  schismatics.  OTYear  1297,  no.  34,  vers.  XI. 


196  HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  vm. 

"  ecclesiastics,  a  certain  doubt  with  some  foundation 
"  cast 103  upon  the  abdication  made  by  Pope  Celestine  V 
"  of  blessed  memory,  whether  it  was  done  legitimately  and 
"  according  to  the  canons.  Now  it  seems  most  likely  it  was 
"  not,  because  that  which  is  entrusted  by  God,  or  any  other 
"  superior  personage,  cannot  be  taken  away  by  any  infe- 
"  rior  person.  And  whereas  the  spiritual  power  which 
"  one  cannot  confer,  cannot  be  removed  by  him ;  so  the 
"  papal  power  conferred  by  God  alone  can  be  taken  away 
"  by  God  alone.  But  if  the  abdication  was  valid,  the  papal 
"  power  could  be  taken  away  by  a  man ;  therefore  the  ab- 
"  dication  cannot  be  made.104 

After  syllogizing  in  this  manner  closely  and  carefully 
in  thirteen  articles  they  close  the  daring  discussion  by 
passing  judgment  on  Boniface,  declaring  him  deposed 
from  the  Papacy,  and  appealing  to  a  future  Council.  The 
foundation  of  the  argument  was  the  work  of  both  the 
enraged  two  Cardinals,  but  we  believe  that  it  was  Jaco- 
pone  who  put  it  in  this  Aristotelian  form.  And  it  is  easy 
to  prove  how  and  why  the  infuriated  Colonna  framed  his 
argument  against  the  validity  of  the  election  of  Boniface. 
The  ground  of  the  reasonable  doubt  (verosimiliter  dubi- 
tari),  is  to  be  found  in  the  abdication  of  Celestine,  which 
they  contend  could  not  be  made.  We  do  not  believe  it 
likely  that  a  doubt  entered  the  mind  of  anyone  through 
any  defect  in  the  manner  of  election  of  Boniface,  but 
through  the  unusual  abdication  of  Celestine.  A  solemn 
renunciation  of  the  Papacy  was  an  unheard-of  thing. 
It  excited  the  greatest  wonder  and  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  many  in  those  times.  Some  could  not  make 
themselves  believe  that  the  dignity  almost  divine  of 
the  Papacy,  once  assumed,  could  be  relinquished.  This 
difficulty  was  increased  by  the  followers  of  Celestine ;  these 
monks  were  holy  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  by  reason  of 
reform,  and  therefore  of  authority.  Hence  attention  was 
fixed  more  on  Celestine  who  had  left  the  chair,  than  Boni- 
face who  sat  in  it.  In  fact  before  the  Colonnas  had  en- 
gaged in  this  proud  rebellion,  we  do  not  find  that  any  one 
had  questioned  the  validity  of  the  election  of  Boniface  to 
the  Papacy.  If  any  one  did  so,  it  was  after  the  two  Car- 

103 «  Dubitari  verosimiliter  ". 

101  See  this  document  in  full  at  the  end  of  this  book.— 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  197 

dinals  had  drawn  attention  from  Celestine  to  Boniface; 
and  from  the  former's  abdication,  which  they  said  could 
not  be  made,  they  asserted  as  illegitimate  the  elevation  of 
the  latter  to  the  Roman  Pontificate. 

It  is  certain  that  the  Colonna  libel  was  productive  of  its 
desired  effects.  It  disturbed  weak  minds  by  inspiring 
doubt;  the  enemies  were  delighted,  pretending  to  have 
certainty.  This  is  clear  from  the  facts  which  we  shall 
relate,  and  by  the  ardor  displayed  by  the  most  learned 
canonists  in  refuting  the  libel.  Peter  of  the  Marches  re- 
duced to  two  heads  the  objections  of  the  Colonnas,  and 
ably  refuted  them.105  John  Andrew  of  Bologna,  a  famous 
lawyer,  did  likewise.106  Egidius  of  Colonna,  Archbishop 
of  Bourges,  with  wonderful  erudition,  and  with  sound 
reason  defended  Boniface  against  the  attacks  of  the  Colon- 
nas.107 And  when  he  came  to  the  refutation  of  the  false 
charge,  which  is  contained  in  the  twelfth  and  last  article 
of  the  libel,  namely  that  Boniface  by  artifice  induced  Cel- 
estine to  abdication,  casting  aside  every  other  argument, 
he  appealed  to  the  testimony  of  the  living  witnesses,  who 
declared  that  Cardinal  Gaetani  had  urged  Celestine  to  re- 
tain the  Papacy,  instead  of  renouncing  it,  alleging  that  his 
sanctity  of  life  more  than  compensated  for  his  ignorance 
of  governing.108  It  may  be  well  to  remind  the  reader  that 
at  the  time  the  Colonnas  compiled  the  diabolical  libel, 
Celestine  had  been  dead  already  one  year.  Now  if  Boni- 
face was  not  the  true  Pope  because  of  the  invalid  abdica- 
tion of  Celestine,  there  could  be  no  longer  any  doubt  as 
to  his  claim  to  the  Papacy  after  the  death  of  his  predeces- 
sor. And  although  Boniface  might  have  been  a  false  Pope 
up  to  June,  1296,  when  Celestine  died,  yet  after  that  time 
he  was  true  Pope  by  the  consent  of  the  Cardinals  and  all 
Christendom,  who  acknowledged  him  as  such;  which  ac- 
knowledgments meant  more  than  an  election.  Finally, 
these  two  Colonna  Cardinals  who  were  present  and  took 
part  in  the  election,  and  who  wished  to  dethrone  Boniface, 
had  no  other  proof  for  the  defence  of  their  position,  than  to 

106  De  cause  immediata  Ecclesiasticae  potestatis.     Paris  1506. 
10*  Lecture  on  the  rules  of  6th,  book  of  the  Decretals. 
10T  De  Renunciation  Papae,  and  especially  in  chapter  23. 

108 "  quia    sufficiebat    collegio    quod    nomen    suae 

sanctitatis  invocaretur  super  eos." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

say  that  the  abdication  of  Celestine  was  null.  A  poor  and 
weak  argument.  Now  what  shall  we  say  to  them,  and  espe- 
cially of  Dante,  who  irreverently  accused  Boniface  of 
simony,  and  of  having  bought  the  office  of  Pope?  If 
there  had  been  any  truth  to  this  sacrilegious  bargain,  the 
Colonnas  would  have  made  use  of  it  as  a  two-edged  sword 
to  wound  their  adversary,  and  there  would  have  been  no 
need  to  weary  themselves  in  forming  syllogisms.  The  sin 
of  simony  was  sufficient  to  deprive  Boniface  of  the  Keys 
of  Peter  which  he  iniquitously  held  in  his  power.  In  the 
famous  Colonna  libel  there  is  no  mention  of  simony. 

After  having  compiled  the  libel  the  Colonnas  were  guilty 
of  an  act  of  most  daring  insolence,  in  that  they  had  the 
base  effrontery  to  affix  a  copy  of  the  shameful  writing  not 
only  to  the  door,  but  also  to  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's 
church.109  Everyone  wrondered  at  such  audacity,  but  no 
one  sanctioned  the  action  of  these  schismatics.  Boniface 
then  took  measures  against  them.  On  the  feast  of  the 
Ascension,  which  in  that  year  fell  on  the  23rd  of  May,  as 
there  was  only  one  course  to  pursue,  he  confirmed  the 
sentence  passed  upon  the  Colonnas  in  the  Bull  of  May 
10th,  in  another  that  he  published  which  began  "  Lapis 
abscissus."  110  In  this  Bull  speaking  of  that  famous  libel 
and  the  attaching  a  copy  of  it  to  the  doors  and  altar  of 
St.  Peter's  church,  and  of  the  contumacy  in  retaining  the 
dignity  of  Cardinal  and  using  the  ring  and  red  hat,  he 
briefly  mentions  his  right  to  the  Papacy.  He  relates  how 
suddenly  and  without  foundation  these  doubts  arose  in 
their  minds ;  how  for  three  years  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  obey  and  respect  him  as  the  true  Pope;  how  they  had 
participated  with  him  in  the  holy  mysteries;  how  they 
had  been  his  ministers  at  the  altar,  his  associates  in  con- 
sultation, in  counsels,  and  in  solemn  definitions;  that  they 
had  been,  in  a  word,  always  with  him  never  doubting  his 
true  dignity;  how  with  the  other  Cardinals  that  had  raised 
him  to  the  Apostolic  See,  and  had  done  this  willingly  and 
without  fear,  inasmuch  as  he  could  not  excite  fear  before 
he  was  Pope;  and  that  their  good  will  was  shown  by  the 
kind  and  warm  reception  accorded  him  at  their  home, 
and  especially  by  James  in  Zagarolo,  and  all  those  other 

10»Bull  of  Boniface.     Raynaldus,  year  1297 — Hist,  du  Diff.  P.  34. 
110  See  this  Bull  at  the  end  of  the  book. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  199 

marks  of  homage  and  respect  they  had  shown  him  as  Pope. 
Then  he  confiscates  all  the  possessions  of  James  and  Peter 
and  the  nephews ;  he  banishes  them  from  the  state ;  he  for- 
bids any  one  to  receive  them,  or  hold  relations  with  them ; 
he  renders  them  ineligible  to  public  office,  and  strikes  them 
with  the  major  excommunication.  This  terrible  constitu- 
tion he  placed  among  the  Decretals,111  as  a  perpetual  re- 
minder of  their  infamy.  Spondano  relates,  and  gives  the 
source  of  his  information,112  how  the  College  of  Cardinals, 
moved  to  indignation  by  the  infamous  libel,  published 
letters  in  which  they  refuted  the  false  charges  and  certi- 
fied to  the  legitimate  authority  of  Boniface. 

As  the  severity  of  the  punishment  increased,  the  minds 
of  the  Colonnas  became  more  embittered,  and  they  had 
recourse  to  violent  measures.  They  assembled  their  forces 
in  Palestrina,  that  Boniface  might  hear  the  sounds  of 
arms.  And  as  if  that  infamous  libel  did  not  suffice  to  give 
vent  to  their  fury,  they  published  other  documents,  in 
which  they  besmirched  the  name  of  Boniface.  They  ac- 
cused him  of  being  a  monster  of  ambition,  of  avarice  and 
of  arrogance.  They  scattered  these  documents  among  the 
people  and  in  the  courts  of  princes.  The  latter  especially 
read  them  with  much  avidity  and  fondly  preserved  them. 
Groaning  under  ,the  power  of  the  Pope,  and  impatient  to 
break  the  yoke,  they  saw  there  an  arsenal  from  which  they 
could  take  arms  at  an  opportune  time.  The  place  in  which 
more  than  any  other  the  news  of  these  affronts  was  agree- 
ably received  was  France,  a  kingdom  which  Philip  ruled 
absolutely.  On  account  of  the  Constitution  "  Clericis 
Laicos,"  he  was  still  disdainful,  and  he  felt  his  courage 
revive  by  the  disputes  which  the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
were  holding  concerning  the  legitimacy  of  Boniface's  claim 
to  the  Papacy.  From  the  time  of  the  abdication  of  Celes- 
tine,  for  reasons  mentioned  before  the  University  was 
awakened  to  the  fact,  and  struck  by  the  novelty  of  it, 
wished  to  know  for  itself  if  it  could  be  made,  and  hence 
if  Boniface  was  really  Pope.  Certainly  no  restraint  was 
placed  on  these  Doctors  in  their  debates.  For  these  dis- 
putes were  of  that  kind  which  make  no  noise,  and  are  even 
necessary  in  Academies  for  practice  and  employment  of 

m  Sixth  Decretal,  chapter  Ad  succidendos. 

112  Collect.  Archiep.  Auxitani  Collegii  Fuxensis  Tolosani  fol.  211. 


200         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  ,VIII. 

time.  The  two  Colonna  Cardinals  in  the  circulation  of 
those  libels  could  not  forget  the  Sorbonne.  In  fact  a 
letter  dated  the  15th  of  June  was  sent  by  them  contain- 
ing the  aforesaid  syllogisms,  which  if  it  was  read  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Doctors  113  must  assuredly  have  occasioned 
a  warm  debate,  and  considering  the  fact  that  these  aca- 
demicians were  always  courtiers,  one  could  unquestion- 
ably conclude,  that  they  extolled  to  the  skies  this  work  of 
the  Colonnas.  And  just  as  these  writings  brimful  of  can- 
onical lore  passed  into  the  hands  of  Princes  and  Doctors, 
so  as  to  arouse  the  more  cultured  minds,  others  of  a  differ- 
ent nature  were  circulated  among  the  people.  Jacopone 
wrote  his  verses  in  the  vernacular,  by  means  of  which  he 
crudely  scored  the  Pope.  In  these  verses  there  is  much 
roughness  of  speech,  which  arose  not  only  from  the  fact 
that  the  language  was  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  also  from  a 
certain  artifice  of  the  Friar  to  make  it  penetrate  deeply 
into  the  minds  of  the  people.  Thus  this  Celestine  recluse 
who  was  scrupulous  with  regard  to  poverty,  rushed  head- 
long to  enkindle  the  fire  of  schism.  Who  will  ever  be  able 
to  explain  fully  and  well,  the  mysteries  of  that  book  which 
is  called  the  human  heart?  Although  Boniface  had  dealt 
the  Colonnas  mortal  blows,  yet  his  rest  was  disturbed  by 
the  fear  of  the  Koman  People,  who,  very  fickle  and  con- 
trolled by  the  nobles,  could  be  very  troublesome  to  him.  If 
Saintly  Popes  had  feared  and  suffered  much  from  the  same 
source,  Pope  Boniface  could  not  consider  himself  safe.  So 
he  retired  to  Orvieto.  In  that  place  he  set  about  to  make 
provision  to  subdue  the  pride  of  the  schismatics  with  the 
sword.  He  enlisted  soldiers  and  gave  the  command  of 
them  to  Landolph  Colonna,  a  cousin  of  the  rebels.  He 
joined  to  his  force,  Inghirano,  Count  of  Bizenzo  with  the 
Florentine  soldiers;  as  is  evident  from  the  letter  sent  by 
the  Pope  to  Landolph  from  Orvieto  on  the  14th  of  Septem- 
ber which  Petrini  published  from  the  original  in  the  ar- 
chives of  Castle  San  Angelo. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  these  warlike  preparations  and 
of  the  intention  of  Boniface  to  fight  had  spread,  the  pro- 
spective war  caused  grave  apprehensions  to  arise  in  the 
minds  of  the  Romans.  Pandolph  Savelli,  a  man  of  civic 
virtue  was  a  senator  of  Rome.  This  rupture  of  peaceful 

***  MS.  in  Vatican  Archives,  Raynaldus. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  201 

relations  was  not  pleasing  to  him.  For  by  reason  of  the 
strength  of  the  rebels,  and  the  rigor  of  the  Pope,  Rome 
would  have  been  plunged  into  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war. 
He  summoned  the  senate  in  council  in  the  Capitol;  and 
having  debated  the  question,  they  resolved  to  send  messen- 
gers to  the  Colonnas  in  Palestrina,  to  induce  them  to 
humble  themselves,  and  submit  to  the  Pontiff.  It  was 
done  accordingly,  and  they  made  fair  promises.  Then  en- 
voys were  sent  to  Boniface  in  Orvieto,  bearing  witness  of 
the  docility  of  the  rebels,  and  entreating  him  to  allay  his 
anger  by  restoring  to  his  favor  these  penitents,  and  to  be 
willing  to  return  without  fear  to  Rome  in  the  following 
spring.  These  things  they  represented  by  word  of  mouth 
and  by  letters,  to  which  the  cautious  Pontiff  immediately 
replied  also  by  letters  to  the  Senator  Savelli  and  the  Roman 
People.  "  Health  and  Apostolic  Benediction  to  our  be- 
"  loved  son  Pandolph  Savelli,  Senator,  and  to  the  Roman 
"  People  who  of  all  others  are  dearest  to  our  heart.  With 
"  paternal  kindness  we  have  received  your  numerous  em- 
"  bassy,  and  we  have  listened  attentively  to  what  they 
"  have  brought  us  by  word  and  letters,  namely,  how  the 
"  Colonnas  being  induced  by  messengers  to  yield  to  us, 
"  have  promised  to  come  to  us,  prepared  to  obey  the  com- 
"  mands  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  how  we  were  entreated 
"  to  pardon  them.  Holding  the  place  of  Him,  Who  has  not 
il  made  death,  nor  delights  in  the  loss  of  the  living ;  and 
"  Who,  as  often  as  His  wandering  children  return  to  Him 
"  humble  and  penitent,  pardons  them ;  so  whenever  these 
"  schismatics  and  rebels  will  become  repentant,  and  will 
"  confess  their  misdeeds,  if  they  come  to  us  personally 
"  without  delay,  and  will  surrender  themselves  and  their 
"  castles  into  our  hands,  our  heart  will  be  open  to  receive 
"  them  and  treat  them  kindly,  that  the  work  of  mercy  will 
"  be  agreeable  to  God,  honorable  to  themselves  and  to  the 
"  Church,  and  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  a  laudable 
"  example  of  clemency.  We  do  not  wish  in  the  meantime 
"  to  be  led  astray  and  be  deceived  by  fair  promises,  and 
"  thus  be  delayed  from  proceeding  against  the  rebels  and 
"  their  abettors.  Most  grateful  for  the  request  made  to 
"  us  to  return  to  Rome  in  the  spring  time  and  to  fix  our 
"  dwelling  there,  let  it  be  known  that  we  love  most  to 
"  dwell  there  where  the  Apostolic  See  has  been  established, 


202  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  in  which  not  only  during  life  but  also  death  we  wish  to 
"  remain ;  for  we  have  built  in  the  church  of  the  Prince 
"  of  the  Apostles  a  chapel  in  which  there  is  a  tomb  where 
"  our  body  will  repose.  We  hold  in  suspense  the  question 
"  of  our  return  until  we  see  if  the  promises  will  be  ful- 
"  filled.114 

But  the  promises  of  the  Colonnas  were  only  a  ruse,  and 
an  artifice  to  gain  time.  They  did  not  go  to  meet  the  Pope, 
and  they  were  guilty  of  worse  actions.  They  welcomed 
to  Palestrina,  Francis  Crescenzi  and  Nicholas  Porri,  the 
envoys  of  Frederick,  the  avowed  enemies  of  Boniface,  and 
entered  into  plots  with  them  against  the  State.  For  this 
reason  he  published  that  terrible  Bull,  in  which  confirm- 
ing the  former  punishments,  he  proclaimed  a  crusade 
against  the  Colonnas,  as  against  contumacious  schismatics 
and  disturbers  of  the  unity  of  the  Church.115  The  inquisi- 
tors were  ordered  to  pursue  them  and  their  followers ;  the 
people  were  called  to  arms,  and  indulgences  were  prom- 
ised to  those  who  would  respond  to  this  appeal.  Matthew 
Colonna,  Provost  of  the  church  of  St.  Omer  in  the  diocese 
of  Maurienne  took  the  cross.  The  papal  indulgences  were 
published  throughout  Italy  by  the  legate  Cardinal  Mat- 
thew of  Acquasparta,  who  diligently  encouraged  the  people 
to  enter  the  crusade  and  subdue  the  Colonnas. 

The  deposition,  excommunication  and  the  war  pro- 
claimed against  the  two  Cardinals  of  Holy  Church  were 
decreed  by  the  Pope  for  a  legitimate  cause,  yet  Boniface 
felt  that  the  magnitude  of  the  punishment  might  lessen 
the  esteem  and  reverence  due  from  the  people  to  the  Col- 
lege of  Cardinals,  because  they  are  the  companions  and 
counsellors  of  the  Pope  in  the  government  of  the  Church, 
and  eligible  themselves  to  the  Papacy.  To  remove  the 
impression  of  abasement  into  which  the  College  may  have 
fallen  after  such  thunderbolts  of  censures  against  two  of 
their  number,  Boniface  published  a  Constitution  in  which 
the  severest  penalties  were  threatened  on  those  who  mo- 
lested or  laid  violent  hands  on  a  Cardinal.  He  specified 
the  infamy  of  such  irreverent  beings:  they  would  be  de- 
prived of  their  benefices  if  they  possessed  any,  their  goods 
would  be  confiscated,  and  their  houses  demolished.  This 

114  See  document  at  end  of  the  Book.     m  Raynaldus,  year  1297,  no.  41. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  203 

constitution  he  placed  later  in  the  sixth  Decretal.116  More- 
over to  cleanse  the  venerable  College  from  any  foul  stain 
with  which  the  misdeeds  of  the  Colonna  Cardinals  may 
have  tainted  it,  he  decreed  that  the  Cardinals  should  ap- 
pear dressed  in  purple  like  Kings.  This  privilege  was 
formerly  enjoyed  only  by  Cardinal  Legates  "  a  Latere  " 
to  some  princely  courts,117  as  it  were,  to  denote  that  he 
who  deputed,  not  only  wore,  but  also  distributed  those 
royal  emblems. 

1297. — Boniface  with  all  his  court  was  in  Orvieto  when 
he  finished  the  process  of  the  canonization  of  Louis  IX, 
King  of  France,  and  grandfather  of  Philip  the  Fair.  Louis 
had  excited  the  wonder  of  all  contemporaries  by  his  self- 
restraint  in  the  government  of  France  in  times  when  the 
people  remained  silent,  and  when  religion  was  losing  much 
of  its  force,  by  reason  of  its  being  involved  in  gross  super- 
stition. No  one  more  than  he  had  loved  and  practised 
justice  towards  his  subjects.  They  found  in  his  honesty 
and  goodness  of  heart  a  guarantee,  which  is  very  rarely 
found  in  the  very  laws  themselves.  It  was  not  thirst  for 
power,  but  love  for  his  subjects,  that  led  him  without  de- 
siring it,  to  weaken  altogether  the  power  of  the  feudal 
lords,  and  concentrate  it  in  his  own  hands.  In  place  of  the 
feudal  lords  he  substituted  jurists  who  are  the  sole  authors 
of  all  those  laws  which  were  enacted  by  Louis  in  relation 
to  the  Church.  The  Pragmatic  Sanction,  (which  French- 
men are  wont  to  call  the  foundation  of  Gallican  liberty), 
was  published  in  March,  1268.  It  concerned  the  collation 
of  benefices,  and  bore  on  the  title  page  the  name  of  Louis. 
It  is  a  very  short  constitution,  comprising  only  six  arti- 
cles,118 but  most  fruitful  of  consequences  which  the  lucu- 
brations of  jurists  made  them  engender.  To  the  princes 
and  clergy  of  France  it  was  a  strong  bulwark,  forming  a 
guarantee  against  what  they  called  the  usurpations  of 
the  Papal  Curia.  By  this  document  the  Pope  in  using  his 
authority  over  churches,  either  for  the  punishment  of  the 
guilty,  or  to  use  the  sacred  patrimony,  must  first  submit 
the  affair  to  the  judgment  of  the  jurists,  ever  ready  to 
despoil  the  Church  to  increase  the  power  of  the  prince 

119  Tit.  9  de  Poenis  cap.  Felicis  Recordationis.  UT  See  Pagi.  Brevi.  Pontiff 
Bonif.  VIII,  n.  34,  523.        118Ordonn.  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  1,  p.  97. 


204  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

from  whom  they  expected  advancement.  The  piety  of 
the  Saint  and  the  true  love  he  bore  the  Church,  together 
with  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  minds  of  the  Pontiffs, 
were  the  reasons  why  no  protest  or  complaints  were  made 
against  this  decree  at  Rome.  But  this  seed  sown  by 
Louis  IX,  ripened  under  Philip  the  Bold,  and  under  Philip 
the  Fair  bore  fruit  which  Boniface  was  compelled  to  taste. 

Still  Boniface  raised  Louis  IX  to  the  honors  of  the  altar. 
His  memory  had  from  day  to  day  become  more  sanctified 
by  miracles  which  the  inquisitors  after  the  strictest  ex- 
amination found  to  be  genuine.  Even  if  this  had  not  been 
done,  the  faithful  of  that  time  could  not  have  been  re- 
strained from  venerating  a  man,  in  whose  pure  heart  there 
was  burned  and  spent  itself  the  ardent  fire  of  chivalry. 
His  imprisonment  at  Damietta,  and  his  slow  lingering 
death  calmly  faced  on  a  bed  of  ashes  at  Tunis,  for  the 
liberation  of  the  Holy  Land,  were  already  a  sufficient 
reason  for  the  people  to  venerate  him  as  a  martyr.  Under 
such  circumstances  the  Pope  could  not  refrain  from  order- 
ing an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  the  life  and  miracles  of  a 
king,  who  was  an  example  not  only  of  virtues,  but  also  of 
devotion  to  the  Holy  See,  and  of  most  ardent  zeal  in  those 
things  in  which  the  faithful  were  wont  at  that  epoch  to 
show  their  love  and  devotion  to  religion. 

The  Pontiffs  had  labored  hard  to  gather  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  the  deeds  of  that  Prince  and  of  the  miracles 
wrought  in  his  name.  Nicholas  III  before  his  death  used 
to  say  that  if  two  or  three  miracles  could  be  proven,  he 
would  not  hesitate  to  raise  Louis  to  the  honors  of  the  altar, 
so  strong  and  firm  was  his  belief  in  his  virtue.  Under 
Martin  IV,  and  Honorius  three  Cardinals  were  deputed  to 
inquire  into  the  matter,  and  they  reported  to  Rome  many 
miracles,  which  were  closely  examined  and  approved  by 
the  College  of  Cardinals.  By  Nicholas  IV  the  matter  was 
intrusted  to  three  other  Cardinals  one  of  whom  was  Bene- 
dict Gaetani.  A  new  investigation  was  made,  and  his  life 
and  miracles  were  again  approved.  Finally  Boniface  on 
the  vigil  of  the  feast  of  St.  Lawrence  and  on  the  following 
day  delivered  two  sermons  to  the  Cardinals  on  the  sanc- 
tity of  Louis  IX,  and  of  his  intention  of  proposing  him  to 
the  veneration  of  the  faithful.  These  two  sermons  known 
to  very  few  were  discovered  in  the  library  of  the  Canons  of 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  205 

St.  Victor  of  Paris,  and  published  by  Duehesne.119  The 
following  strong  words  from  his  sermon  fully  express 
what  was  in  his  mind.  "  At  first  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
"  he  who  knows  how  to  govern  himself  and  his  subjects, 
"  the  same  is  a  true  king.  But  he  who  knows  not  how  to 
"  govern  himself  and  his  subjects,  truly  can  be  said  to  be  a 
"  false  king.  He  was  certainly  a  true  king,  because  he 
"  governed  himself  and  his  subjects  justly  and  holily.  He 
"  governed  himself,  because  he  subjected  the  flesh  to  the 
"  spirit,  and  his  passions  to  reason.  Likewise  he  governed 
"  his  subjects  well,  for  he  preserved  them  in  all  justice  and 
"  equity.  He  also  governed  the  churches  well  by  defend- 
"  ing  the  ecclesiastical  liberties  and  rights.  In  our  opinion 
"  those  who  govern  badly  are  not  true  kings." 

In  the  other  sermon  he  thus  gravely  explains  with  what 
caution  the  Holy  See  proceeded  in  the  matter  of  the  canon- 
ization of  any  one  of  the  faithful  who  has  piously  departed 
this  life.  "  Since,"  said  he,  "  this  act  of  enrollment  among 
"  the  Saints  by  papal  canonization  is  considered  an  act  of 
"  the  highest  importance  in  the  Church  militant,  it  is  re- 
"  served  solely  to  the  Roman  Pontiff;  that  is  why  the  Holy 
"  See  has  wished  to  proceed  with  greatest  prudence  in  that 
"  of  King  Louis  IX.  Although  his  life  had  been  so  well 
"  known,  and  although  many  miracles  were  wrought 
"  through  him ;  although  the  king,  the  barons  and  the  prel- 
"  ates  entreated  us  often  and  earnestly  to  end  this  affair, 
"  still  the  Holy  See  has  wished  that  the  private  investiga- 
"  tions  that  had  been  already  made  should  be  solemnly 
"  prolonged  for  a  longer  period." 


APPENDIX. 

A  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  FOLLOWING  BOOKS,,  AND  TOUCHING 
ON  THE  BULL  "  CLERICIS." 

WE  have  placed  the  Constitution  "  Clericis  "  of  Boniface 
and  his  fatherly  letter  "  Ineffablis "  to  Philip  the  Fair 
among  the  number  of  the  documents  at  the  end  of  this 
work.  We  hope  that  those  who  have  read  the  first  three 
books  of  this  history,  will  not  neglect  to  take  cognizance 

"*  Histor.  Franc.  Script.  T.  V.  pg.  481.    See  Document  at  end  of  work. 


206  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

of  these  two  important  documents.  For  as  the  remote 
cause  of  the  quarrels  between  Boniface  and  Philip  the 
Fair  are  contained  in  them,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
those  who  ignore  them  to  read  with  interest,  or  even  un- 
derstand well,  what  follows  of  this  history.  It  is  then  to 
throw  more  light  on  the  nature  of  the  events,  that  we 
have  judged  it  fitting  to  venture  in  this  appendix  upon  a 
recital  regarding  this  constitution  and  the  admirable 
letter  to  Philip. 

The  taxes  levied  on  the  goods  of  the  churches  in  cases 
of  public  necessity  were  always  not  only  tolerated,  but 
even  were  approved  by  the  Church.  Casting  a  glance  over 
the  times  previous  to  those  which  are  the  subject  of  this 
history,  we  notice  that  these  public  necessities  by  common 
consent  were  the  warlike  expeditions  to  wrrest  the  Holy 
Land  from  the  hands  of  the  infidels;  the  conquest  of  the 
Byzantine  Empire,  as  the  surest  and  shortest  means  of 
accomplishing  the  former  design  and  the  reunion  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Churches;  the  wars  waged  by  the  Ponti- 
fical See  against  Frederick  II,  the  avowed  enemy  of  the 
Church;  those  waged  against  the  Albigenses,  and  especi- 
ally against  the  Counts  of  Toulouse  their  protectors;  and 
finally  those  against  Peter  of  Aragon,  the  invader  of  Sicily. 
Of  these  necessities,  as  is  seen,  only  those  of  the  holy  wars 
concerned  all  the  faithful  directly;  the  others  concerned 
them  only  indirectly,  as  when  the  Pope  was  in  danger 
either  with  regard  to  his  patrimony,  his  jurisdiction,  or 
the  preservation  of  some  dogma,  all  the  believers  in  his 
supremacy  were  called  to  his  aid.  The  levying  of  the 
tithes  on  the  sacred  patrimonies  in  the  case  of  public 
necessity  which  concerned  the  Christian  republic  was  of 
right  and  of  fact  prescribed  by  the  sovereign  Pontiffs,  both 
•by  the  character  of  the  subject  which  was  sacred,  and  by 
the  patrimonies  which  were  equally  sacred.  But  when 
public  necessity  affected  the  particular  state  of  some 
prince,  then  inasmuch  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  was 
not  sacred,  it  pertained  by  right  to  the  Pope  and  the  clergy 
to  consent  to  this  tax,  by  reason  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
goods  it  affected,  although  in  the  fact  the  prince,  owing 
either  to  the  urgency  of  the  case,  to  tyranny,  or  to  the 
weakness  of  the  clergy,  may  have  levied  and  seized  it  ac- 
cording to  his  pleasure.  In  fact  it  contained  the  whole 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  207 

history  of  the  defence  of  the  immunity  of  the  ecclesiastical 
possessions  courageously  maintained  by  the  Pontiffs 
against  the  power  of  kings,  and  the  syllogisms  of  jurists. 
The  justice  or  the  injustice  of  a  war  undertaken  by  the 
king  rendered  just  or  unjust  the  demand  of  ecclesiastical 
subsidies ;  the  exaction  of  them  then  without  the  consent 
of  the  clergy  was  always  unjust.  It  is  therefore  clear  that 
from  the  difficult  appreciation  of  these  reasons,  and  from 
the  dangerous  contact  of  the  two  powers  there  would  arise 
a  long  train  of  dreadful  quarrels. 

The  tithes  for  the  holy  wars  in  Palestine  were  at  first 
furnished  to  the  kings  by  voluntary  gifts  of  the  clergy, 
and  as  it  were  in  the  name  of  alms ;  but  soon,  according  to 
the  remark  of  that  most  sarcastic  English  monk,  Matthew 
of  Paris,120  the  pious  need  was  converted  into  violence, 
and  the  shameful  vice  of  rapacity  was  hidden  under 
the  mantle  of  alms.  The  clergy  were  so  greatly  alarmed 
that  Peter  of  Blois,  Archdeacon  of  Bath,  cried  out  from 
his  England  to  admonish  the  French  bishops  not  to  allow 
themselves  to  be  robbed  of  their  possession  by  the  king 
asking  money  for  the  expedition  to  Palestine.121  For  he 
wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Orleans :  "  Is  it  reasonable,  that 
"  those  who  fight  for  the  Church  should  despoil  the 
11  Church?  when  they  should  on  the  contrary  enrich  her 
"  with  the  spoils  of  the  enemy,  and  with  triumphal  pres- 
"  ents?  Do  these  wretches  and  fools  imagine  that  Jesus 
"  Christ,  sovereign  justice,  desires  a  sacrifice  of  iniquities 
"  and  sacrileges,  and  that  spoils  in  such  a  manner  gath- 
"  ered  can  be  of  any  service?  "  122  Afterwards  he  con- 
cludes too  severely  by  saying  that  the  princes  would  exact 
no  other  thing  from  the  pontiffs  and  the  clergy  but  inces- 
sant prayers.  But  the  Crusades  were  a  necessity,  and  to 

130  Ad  an.  1188:  "  Eodem  tempore  decima  pars  mobilium  generalis  con- 
cessa  per  Angliam,  ut  collecta  ad  subventionem  Terrae  Sanctae  impender- 
etur,  tarn  clerum  quam  populum  exactione  violenta  perterruit,  quae  sub 
eleemosynae  titus  vitium  rapacitatis  inclusit."  "l  Epist.  112. 

123  Quae  ratio  est,  ut  qui  pro  Ecclesia  pugnant,  Ecclesiam  spolient  ? 
Quam  inimicorum  spoliis  et  donis  triumphalibus  ampliare  debuerant? 
Putantne  insipientes  et  miseri,  quod  Christus,  qui  summa  justitia  est, 
velit  sibi  de  injuriis  et  sacrilegiis  exhiberi  sacrificium,  aut  sustineat  com- 
missa  ex  his  spolia  prosperari?  Quid  aliud  a  pontificibus  vel  a  clero 
potest  vel  debet  princeps  exigere,  quam  ut  incessanter  fiat  oratio  ab 
Eeclesia  ad  Deum? 


208  HISTORY,   OF.    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

conduct  them  money  was  needed.  The  Lateran  Council, 
held  under  Innocent  III,  1215,  therefore  decreed  that  the 
Pope  and  the  Cardinals  should  devote  to  them  the  tenth 
part  of  their  benefices,  and  the  clergy  the  twentieth.  The 
First  Council  of  Lyons,  1245,  confirmed  the  canon  of  the 
Lateran  Council  by  this  decree :  "  Ex  concilii  communi 
"  approbatione  statuirnus  ut  omnes  omnino  clerici  vigesi- 
"  mam,  etc."  The  joint  liability,  and  the  establishment  of 
the  subsidies  were  determined  by  the  needs  of  the 
kings  and  zeal  of  the  clergy.  The  provincial  councils, 
for  example  that  of  Avignon  (1209),  of  Narbonne  (1227), 
of  Toulouse  (1229),  renewed  the  decrees  of  the  general 
councils. 

These  tenth  and  twentieth  parts  were  paid,  but  they 
were  not  always  for  wars  in  Palestine;  and  even  when 
there  was  necessity,  the  kings  were  not  always  willing  to 
go  to  the  Holy  Land,  but  that  did  not  hinder  them  from 
collecting  the  usual  subsidies,  even  after  the  complete 
extinction  of  the  fire  of  the  Crusades.  This  abuse  com- 
pelled the  Popes  to  place  them  under  the  obligation  of  un- 
dertaking the  Crusade  or  of  restoring  what  they  had  col- 
lected. Neither  the  one  or  the  other  would  they  do,  both 
because  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  no  longer  so  precious  in 
their  eyes  that  they  would  give  up  their  lives  for  it,  and 
because  it  seemed  sweet  to  them  to  retain  the  fruits  of 
their  robberies,  Nicholas  IV  in  1291 123  wrote  to  Philip  the 
Fair,  and  to  Edward  of  England,124  but  Philip  and  Ed- 
ward did  not  restore.  In  a  word  the  princes  abused  the 
canons  of  the  Council  of  Lyons;  whenever  they  wanted  to 
gain  possession  of  some  of  the  goods  of  the  churches,  they 
rushed  to  arms,  they  assumed  the  cross,  they  got  in  motion 
as  if  they  were  on  the  point  of  departing  for  the  Holy 
Land,  to  which  they  did  not  even  dream  of  going,  and  they 
exacted  in  this  manner  from  the  clergy  the  twentieth  part 
which  was  fixed  by  the  Council  of  Lyons. 

This  could  not  last  always;  in  time  the  convenient  pre- 
text of  the  holy  wars  failed  the  kings,  both  because  the 
people  would  not  go  any  more  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  be- 
cause the  clergy,  where  they  had  been  stupid,  acquired 
wisdom  in  that  expensive  school.  Summoned  to  pay,  the 
monks  especially  made  the  greatest  outcry.  The  chroni- 

""Raynaldus  ad  an.  1291.  22.  56.  57.  **•  Raynald.us  ad  on.  1291. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  209 

cles  of  Matthew  of  Paris,  and  Matthew  of  Westminster 
resound  with  their  complaints.  At  that  time  other  ways 
to  ask  and  to  concede  were  employed,  which  we  find  were 
adopted  for  the  first  time  by  the  bishops  of  the  province  of 
Tours  in  1294,  who  granted  tithes  for  two  years  to  Philip 
for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom  and  the  churches :  "  propter 
tuitionem  regni  et  ecclesiarum."  Thus  a  mutual  agree- 
ment was  made  between  the  king  and  the  clergy,  by  which 
the  former  bound  himself  to  defend  the  rights  of  the 
Church,  and  the  latter  to  aid  him  in  the  defence  of  the 
state.  But  this  compact  could  not  continued  in  peace;  in- 
asmuch as  the  Church  would  have  to  expect  aid  and  the 
defence  of  her  rights  from  the  very  one  from  whom  she 
had  to  fear  impieties  and  the  invasion  of  her  rights.  So  it 
clearly  appears,  that  although  the  right  of  the  immunity 
of  the  sacred  patrimonies  remained  unchanged,  yet  the 
fact  was  often  wavering,  owing  to  the  cessation  of  circum- 
stances, as  for  example  of  the  Crusades,  of  pirates  and 
what  not,  which  counselled  moderation  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy. 

In  England  and  in  Spain  the  clergy  showed  themselves 
more  tenacious  of  their  rights,  than  those  in  France.  The 
English  feudal  lords  energetically  resisted  the  king;  they 
combined  with  the  clergy,  and  the  united  resistance  mani- 
fested to  the  king  by  the  aristocracy  and  the  clergy  wrung 
from  him  the  franchises  for  all  the  people  held  sacred  in 
the  Magna  Charta.  Requested  to  pay,  the  clergy  never 
feared  threats,  they  never  yielded  to  caresses ;  the  spirit  of 
St.  Thomas  a  Becket  and  St.  Anselm  seemed  at  that  time 
to  animate  the  episcopal  body.  When  it  became  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  persist  in  their  refusal,  they  always  indem- 
nified themselves  for  the  subsidies  which  they  granted  by 
some  new  and  explicit  confirmation  of  their  immunities. 
Edward  I,  engaged  in  a  war  with  Philip  the  Fair,  could 
not  obtain  the  tithes  from  the  clergy  of  the  province  of 
Canterbury ,  nor  a  fifth  part  of  the  revenues  of  the 
churches  of  the  province  of  York,  before  his  son  promised 
in  his  name  to  confirm  that  part  of  the  Charta  which  re- 
lated to  the  immunity  of  ecclesiastical  affairs.125 

In  Spain  the  taxes  on  the  churches  were  more  danger- 
ous, but  the  firmness  of  the  clergy  was  also  greater.  In 

125  Thomas  Walsingham  ad  an.  1298. 


210 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


that  kingdom  Crusades  were  not  preached  against  infidels 
in  a  distant  land,  Crusades  which  were  a  necessity  only 
through  the  impetuosity  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  infi- 
del Moors  were  in  the  heart  of  the  country,  and  the  de- 
fence as  well  as  the  love  of  country  made  their  expulsion 
a  necessity.  The  princes  of  this  kingdom  demanded  most 
abundant  subsidies  from  the  churches.  They  were  not 
satisfied  with  a  tenth  or  twentieth  part,  but  they  required 
a  third.  These  third  parts  began  to  be  collected  for  the 
first  time  in  1214  under  Henry,  King  of  Castile,  who 
having  succeeded  his  father  Alphonsus  at  a  tender  age, 
gave  unlimited  authority  to  Alvarez  his  guardian,  who 
placed  the  Church  in  a  wretched  condition  by  reason  of 
these  heavy  exactions.126  But  solemnly  excommunicated 
by  the  Dean  of  the  church  of  Toledo,  at  that  time  vicar  of 
the  Archbishop  of  that  city,  not  only  did  he  restore  what 
he  had  unjustly  collected,  but  he  even  swore  that  he 
would  cease  his  depredations.  This  first  blow  well  given 
taught  the  clergy  to  do  likewise.  After  the  Council  of 
Lyons  was  ended,  Alphonsus  of  Castile,  deluded  by  the 
hope  of  being  Emperor  of  Germany,  thought  no  more  of 
the  Moors.  Gregory  X,  an  ardent  promoter  of  the  Cru- 
sades, called  him  to  his  duty  and  granted  him  for  six 
years  the  tithes  of  the  churches  of  his  kingdom,  provided 
he  would  waive  his  claim  to  the  empire,  leave  Rudolph  of 
Hapsburg  in  peaceful  possession,  and  renew  the  war 
against  the  Moors.  This  concession  reinvested,  it  is  true, 
as  Mariana  remarks,127  the  usurpations  of  the  Spanish 
princes  with  a  certain  character  of  legality.  However  the 
clergy  remained  firm,  as  we  have  said,  and  the  provincial 
councils  in  Spain  128  are  a  splendid  proof  of  it. 

The  movement  of  the  Crusades  was  not  so  intense  and 
so  constant  in  any  other  country  of  Christendom  as  it  was 
in  France.  For  that  reason  the  tithes  for  this  necessity, 
called  Saladines,  were  of  earlier  origin  and  more  continu- 
ous than  elsewhere.  This  is  how  they  came  to  be  imposed 
for  the  first  time.  In  the  middle  of  Lent  a  parliament  was 
assembled  in  Paris,  which  was  attended  by  all  the  barons, 
bishops,  archbishops,  and  abbots  of  the  kingdom,  and  an 
immense  number  of  foot  soldiers  and  knights,  who  as- 

129 Thomas  Walsingham  ad  an.  1298.  12T Marian  ann.  "Hoc  initium 

castellae  regibus  sacros  temploruro  reditus  decerpendi." —    ^L.  13  c.  ult. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  211 

Sumed  the  cross  in  order  to  go  to  fight  in  the  Holy  Land.129 
The  King  Philip  Augustus  showed  himself  disposed  to  set 
out  for  this  reason,  which  was  held  to  be  of  urgent  neces- 
sity. With  the  consent  of  the  clergy  and  the  people  it  was 
decided  that  he  could  collect  tithes  from  everybody,  for 
that  year  only,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  impending  neces- 
sity :  "  Omnibus  et  tantum  anno  propter  instantem  neces- 
sitatem."  The  details  of  these  circumstances  have  been 
transmitted  to  us  by  Rigord,  a  monk  of  St.  Denis,  who 
was  the  historian  and  chaplain  of  Philip  Augustus.  The 
means  seemed  agreeable  to  Philip,  who  having  tasted 
them,  oppressed  the  churches  unmercifully  by  unheard  of 
exactions :  "  Gravibus  exactionibus  vehementer  oppressit 
et  insolitis"  13°  It  is  well  to  read  in  the  chronicle  of  the 
religious  which  we  have  cited  the  pretexts  by  the  aid  of 
which  the  king  tried  to  justify  his  usurpations,  and  with 
what  unrestricted  freedom  the  good  monk  wrote.  Never- 
theless the  Prince  realized  his  evil  deeds;  for  he  acknowl- 
edged the  right  of  the  immunity  of  the  Church,  and  he  by 
no  means  sought  to  weaken  or  destroy  it.  A  proof  of  this 
we  have  in  Rigord.  Some  moments  before  the  battle  of 
Bovine,  Philip,  who  knew  of  all  the  extortions  which  Otho, 
Emperor  of  Germany,  and  John  of  England,  in  league 
against  him,  had  been  guilty  of  against  the  Church,  began 
to  pray,  and  Rigord,  his  chaplain,  behind  him  heard  him 
utter  these  words :  "  All  our  hope,  all  our  confidence  is  in 
"  God.  King  Otho  and  his  army  have  been  excommuni- 
"  cated  as  enemies  of  the  Church  and  as  destroyers  of  her 
"  possessions.  The  tears  of  the  poor  and  the  fruit  of  his 
"  plunder  of  the  churches  and  the  clergy  form  the  wrages 
"  of  his  soldiers.  We  are  Christians  in  full  communion 
"  and  peace  with  Holy  Church.  Although  sinners,  we  do 
"  the  will  of  the  Church  of  God  and  we  defend  according 
"to  our  power  the  liberty  of  the  clergy."  Then,  according 
to  the  judgment  of  Philip,  he  who  laid  hands  on  the  goods 
of  the  Church,  and  did  not  defend  her  liberty,  wras  not  a 
Christian. 

The  payment  of  the  tithes  was  at  first  free  and  spontane- 
ous in  France;  afterwards  it  was  requested  by  the  kings, 
and  authorized  by  the  Popes;  and  the  requests  of  the 
former  followed  so  frequently  and  so  urgently,  as  well  as 

Aguir.   Hispaniae.       ""Duchesne.   Script.  Hist.  Franc.  T.   5. 


212  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  will  of  the  latter,  that  it  became  an  obligation  for  the 
clergy  to  pay  on  account  of  the  urgent  necessity ;  but  their 
right  to  consent  to  or  refuse  this  tax  always  remained  in- 
tact. The  wars  against  the  Albigenses  having  been  added 
to  those  of  Palestine,  under  Louis  VIII,  the  necessity  of 
the  tithes  increased.  A  synod  was  convoked  at  Bourges, 
in  which  the  legate  of  Gregory  IX  imposed  this  tax  on  the 
clergy  for  five  years,  in  order  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
expeditions  against  these  heretics.  In  order  to  persuade 
the  clergy  more  easily,  the  king  prevailed  upon  the  legate 
to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  expedition,  but  the 
clergy  would  grant  only  a  half  of  the  tithes,  and  they  ob- 
jected to  the  use  of  that  scandalous  word,  for  which  they 
substituted  the  word  "  subsidies,"  to  close  the  way  to  the 
custom.  The  king  died:  the  legate  renewed  the  request, 
;but  the  chapters  of  the  provinces  of  Rheims,  of  Sens,  of 
Tours,  of  Rouen,  appealed  to  the  Pope,  because  they  did 
not  want  to  see  a  gratuitous  gift  transformed  into  an  obli- 
gation and  a  slavery:  " Attendentes  quod  hoc  ipsum,  quod 
t(  de  libertate  processerat,  convertebatur  in  obligationem 
"  et  servitutem"  The  clergy  complained  then  because 
they  did  not  wish  to  be  enslaved  by  a  law;  the  kings,  on 
their  part  insisted,  because  they  wished  to  impose  it.  But 
although  the  right  remained  intact,  yet  the  fact  was 
strengthened,  and  these  yearly  exactions  threatened  to 
become  a  right.  Louis  IX  ascended  the  throne;  he  was  a 
saint,  and  we  do  not  hear  of  him  oppressing  the  churches ; 
yet  this  constant  ardor  for  the  holy  wars  had  exhausted 
the  Church  in  France.  Louis  wanted  some  money  for  a 
crusade,  and  he  asked  it  from  the  Pope;  but  the  procura- 
tors of  all  the  cathedrals  of  France,  assembled  at  Paris, 
forwarded  by  letter  their  grievance  to  the  Pontiff:131 
"  Your  Holiness  knows,  for  the  whole  world  is  full  of 
"  them,  the  trouble  and  trials  of  the  Universal  Church, 
"  and  particularly  of  that  of  France,  compelled  to  pay  at 
"  one  time  a  tenth,  again  a  twentieth,  and  at  another  a 
"  hundredth  part  of  its  revenues,  and  to  bear  the  weight 

*** "  Novit  vestra  sanctissima  paternitas,  et  in  fines  orbis  terrae  exivisse 
"  quantis,  perturbationibus  et  pressuris  universalis  Ecclesia,  potissirae 
"  Gallicana  sit  turbata,  nunc  decimam,  nunc  duodecimam  praestando, 
"  nunc  centesimam,  nunc  multarum  aliarum  exactionum  gravamina  sus- 
"  tinando." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  213 

"  of  many  other  demands."  Hence  they  protested,  that  by 
no  other  power  than  the  Holy  See  did  they  hope  to  see 
their  former  liberty  restored,  and  if  help  failed  them,  that 
pest  of  the  tithes  would  be  prolonged  indefinitely:  "In 
"  quibus  nisi  a  sede  apostolica  plenam  possit  assequi  liber- 
"  tatem,  pestis  ista  latissime  se  diffundet."  Duchene  thus 
writes  in  the  old  chronicle  of  Neustria  for  the  year  1254. 
The  tithes  imposed  by  a  king,  holy  as  Louis  IX,  were 
criticised  even  in  England.  Here  are  the  words  of  sar- 
castic Matthew  of  Paris :  "  With  the  permission  of  the 
"  Pope,  he  oppressed  his  kingdom  in  many  ways,  extorting 
"  large  sums  of  money  under  the  pretext  of  making  a 
"  pilgrimage  with  great  display,  and  he  levied  on  the  tenth 
"  part  revenues  of  all  the  churches  of  his  kingdom."  We 
do  not  believe  that  Louis  oppressed  the  churches  so 
heavily;  but  if  there  was  reason  for  complaint  under  a 
saintly  king  it  is  easy  to  imagine  how  the  churches  fared 
under  a  king  less  pious. 

The  French  kings  had  refused  to  go  any  more  to  the 
Holy  Land,  there  were  no  heretics  to  be  combated  by  arms, 
and  consequently  the  old  reasons  for  tithes  ceased  to  exist. 
But  since  wars  continually  arose  between  Christian 
princes,  there  was  constant  need  of  money  to  maintain 
them,  and  kings  presented  themselves  at  the  door  of  the 
churches,  asking  it  for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom :  "  Ob 
"  tuitionem  regni."  Here  was  the  difficulty ;  not  to  give 
was  to  provoke  the  anger  of  the  king ;  to  give  was  to  betray 
the  sacred  immunities.  The  councils  of  the  Lateran  and 
Lyons  ordered  subsidies  for  the  Holy  Land,  and  not  for 
other  necessities.  The  warlike  expeditions  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  Holy  Places,  bore  the  evident  character  of 
justice  and  piety;  but  any  other  military  expedition  did 
not  possess  this  mark  without  a  decree  to  that  effect. 
Moreover,  in  the  first  case  the  amount  of  aid  to  furnish  to 
a  prince  on  a  crusade  would  be  known,  in  the  second  case 
it  would  not  be  known,  and  hence  the  right  would  be  un- 
determined. In  the  uncertainty  the  churches  were  op- 
pressed by  Philip  the  Fair,  partly  through  the  tyranny  of 
the  king,  partly  through  the  weakness  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy.  The  clergy,  thus  oppressed,  complained,  but  they 
did  not  resist  like  those  in  England.  Boniface  moved  by 
these  complaints  published  the  constitution,  "  Clericis." 


214  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Now  reflecting  on  these  matters,  can  we  say  with  Bos- 
suet  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  publish  that  offensive 
constitution?  The  prohibition  to  the  clergy  to  grant  sub- 
sidies to  the  king  without  permission  of  the  Pope  was 
severe,  and  severe  the  punishment  also,  but  the  applica- 
tion of  the  law  to  Philip  the  Fair  was  most  benign.  So, 
although  having  suffered  a  little  from  this  constitution 
which  placed  the  sacred  patrimonies  out  of  his  reach,  and 
this  pained  him ;  yet  he  would  not  have  published  that  dis- 
graceful and  unjust  edict,  if  the  flatterers,  that  torment 
of  courts,  had  not  gone  about  murmuring :  "  The  prelates 
"  and  the  ecclesiastical  persons  of  your  kingdom  now  can 
"  no  longer  render  you  service  nor  give  you  the  pecuniary 
"  aid  to  which  they  are  obliged  by  reason  of  their  fiefs. 
"  Now  they  can  no  longer  make  to  their  king  the  simple 
"  gift  of  a  horse  or  a  cup."  132  When  had  Boniface  thought 
of  the  goods  which  the  clergy  held  in  the  character  of 
feudatories?  "  Our  constitution,"  said  Boniface  on  the 
contrary,  "  does  not  admit  of  such  malicious  comments, 
"  and  the  spirit  which  prompted  it  rejects  the  meaning 
"  given  to  it  by  false  commentators."  133  He  declared  that 
he  did  not  forbid  the  concession  of  ecclesiastical  subsidies 
to  the  king  for  the  defence  of  his  kingdom ;  but  that  he  did 
not  want  it  done  without  the  special  authorization  of  the 
Pope;  and  besides  he  was  ready  himself  to  dispose  of  the 
sacred  vessels  and  the  crosses,  in  order  to  cooperate  in 
the  defence  of  the  kingdom  of  France.  And  finally  here 
are  the  concessions  which  after  all  the  clamors  of  Philip 
the  Fair,  Boniface  granted  him,  in  the  affair  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal subsidies,  by  another  Bull  entirely  favorable  to  this 
prince,  and  explanatory  of  the  constitution  "  Clerics." 

1st.  The  intention  of  the  pontiff  was  not  to  prohibit 
to  the  clergy  the  gratuitous  gifts  to  the  king  or  state  in 
danger,  provided  there  was  no  violence,  but  only  exhorta- 
tions and  entreaties  used  to  obtain  them. 

2nd.  The  clergy,  possessors  of  ecclesiastical  feudal 
property,  remained  obliged  to  fulfil  their  duty  and  to  ren- 
der homage  due  to  the  king. 

3rd.  In  grave  and  sudden  dangers  of  both  king  and 
state,  the  king  could  ask  subsidies  from  the  prelates,  and 

138  See  Document  L.  Ineffabilis.  *"  The  same. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  215 

they  could  grant  them,  even  without  the  permission  of 
the  Koman  Pontiff. 

4th.  The  judgment  of  the  grievousness  of  the  necessity, 
for  the  sake  of  which  the  clergy  could  be  called  upon,  was 
left  entirely  to  the  conscience  of  the  king,  if  he  had  reached 
his  twentieth  year,  and  to  his  ministers,  if  he  was  a  minor. 

The  reader  therefore  will  see  that  Philip,  who  consid- 
ered himself  grievously  tormented  by  Boniface,  was  on  the 
contrary  most  favored  by  him,  and  beyond  other  princes 
had  the  privilege  of  collecting  subsidies,  even  without  the 
permission  of  the  Pontiff,  in  case  of  necessity.  For  this 
reason  the  disputes  which  arose  later  between  the  two 
men,  cannot  be  ascribed  to  the  fault  of  the  Pontiff. 


BOOK  IV. 

SUMMARY. 

1297-1300. 

The  sovereign  expression  of  the  papal  power. — It  derived  all  its  greatness 
from  that  of  St.  Peter. — The  Sixth  Decretal.— Dino  da  Mugello. — The 
Count  of  Flanders  becomes  an  ally  of  Edward  of  England. — A  formid- 
able league  against  Philip  the  Fair. — He  fights  it  and  is  aided  by 
Boniface. — Boniface  is  chosen  arbiter  by  Philip  and  Edward. — His  de- 
cision.— .How  it  was  received  by  the  two  Princes. — Wallace  disturbs 
Scotland. — 'Scotch  envoys  to  Boniface. — His  letter  to  Edward. — Ed- 
ward's reply  and  that  of  the  English  Parliament. — Albert  of  Austria 
with  the  aid  of  Philip  is  elected  King  of  the  Romans. — Boniface  will 
not  confirm  this  election. — The  Armenians  beg  aid  from  Boniface 
against  the  Turks. — 'The  Holy  Wars. — Boniface  defends  the  Templars 
against  the  king  of  Cyprus. — 'His  moderation  towards  Philip. — The 
usurpations  of  Philip  in  league  with  Albert. — Sicily;  and  the  acts  of 
James  against  Frederick. — 'Small  gain  do  they  bring  to  the  Church. — 
Battle  of  Cape  Orlando. — Charles  II,  whom  the  Pope  tries  to  restrain, 
undertakes  an  unfortunate  expedition  against  Sicily. — Constitution  of 
Boniface  concerning  corpses. — He  pursues  the  Fraticelli. — He  favors  the 
Friars  Minor. — 'He  undertakes  to  subdue  Palestrina. — The  pretended 
counsel  given  him  by  Guy  of  Montefeltro. — The  Colonnas  surrender  at 
discretion. — The  end  of  Palestrina. — Boniface  approves  the  new  order 
of  St.  Anthony.— The  Greek  Church. 

WE  have  finally  reached  that  stage  of  this  history, 
when  the  mind  of  the  reader  has  been  raised  by  itself,  as 
it  were,  to  the  height  of  that  fact  which  has  dominated  all 
others,  the  subject  of  our  narrative :  we  mean  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Papal  power.  And  since  we  have  said  that 
this  reached  its  extreme  period  during  the  lifetime  of 
Boniface,  a  period,  consequently,  agitated  and  stormy  like 
every  living  existence  that  ends;  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
carefully  turn  our  attention  to  it,  in  order  to  arrive  at  a 
knowledge  of  the  scope  of  this  narrative.  But  there  is  no 
need  of  much  effort,  since  this  fact  is  so  forcibly  charac- 
terized, that  all  the  other  facts  which  we  shall  narrate  are 

216 


HISTORY   OF    POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  217 

founded  on  it,  and  dominating  as  it  was,  it  becomes  the 
one  and  only  object  of  our  study.  In  the  moral  order  it  is 
an  invariable  law,  that  the  ending  of  a  life  is  caused  by 
the  ending  of  its  determining  causes,  which  being  con- 
sumed, so  to  speak,  as  they  carry  to  the  highest  degree  the 
power  of  existence,  suddenly  extinguish  it 

The  life  of  this  absolute  Pontifical  power,  considered  in 
itself,  had  expression  in  canon  law,  which  at  once  had 
produced  a  relative  Pontifical  power  outside  of  itself  in 
contact  with  the  faithful.  Now  since  this  power  under 
Boniface  and  through  him,  reached  the  highest  point  in 
its  life,  the  Papacy  of  Boniface  must  have  had  a  particular 
expression  in  canon  law ;  and  this  portion  of  the  canonical 
laws  should  above  all  others  manifest  a  sensible  vigor  pro- 
portionate to  the  vital  strength  of  that  power.  The  volume 
of  these  laws  was  the  Sixth  of  the  Decretals. 

The  Papacy  as  a  theocratic  power  assumed  to  rule  the 
noblest  part  of  the  human  individual,  namely  the  intelli- 
gent spirit,  in  which  there  is  liberty,  that  is  to  say,  life 
through  knowledge.  Therefore  every  human  knowledge 
not  only  clothed  itself  with  the  forms  of  that  theocratic 
power,  but  also  accepted  it  as  an  ideal.  For  which  reason 
philosophy  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  only  theology,  art  was 
theological,  and  the  standard  of  right,  preeminently  the 
guiding  spirit  of  the  people  was  Papal.  And  since  the  first 
necessity  is  that  of  existence,  which  can  not  be  without  a 
determination,  or  right,  it  came  to  pass  that  men  devoted 
themselves  more  closely  to  the  study  of  this  than  any  other 
science.  The  Universities  of  Bologna,  Padua,  and  Paris  in 
the  thirteenth  century  were  only  assemblies  of  canonists; 
and  Gregory  IX,  Innocent  III,  Honorius  III,  and  Boniface 
VIII,  addressed  their  collections  of  canons  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Bologna. 

We  shall  not  speak  of  the  history  of  the  Decretals,  as 
it  would  be  too  great  a  digression;  we  wish  to  say  how- 
ever, that  these  were  not  the  expression  of  arbitrary  power 
of  the  Popes,  but  rather  the  consequence  of  that  same 
Papacy  which  Christ  had  established  in  the  Church.  The 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  to  which  the  Apostles  were  de- 
puted, had  an  immediate  effect,  namely  the  formation  of 
the  Church  by  unity  of  faith.  The  government  of  the 
Church,  which  also  was  entrusted  to  the  Apostles,  had  not 


218  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

an  immediate  effect  in  its  entire  extension,  proportionate 
to  the  efficacy  of  the  power  that  was  granted  to  the  Apos- 
tles and  the  Episcopate.  Preaching  had  for  its  object  the 
existence  of  the  Church,  and  the  Church  existed  through 
the  faith  of  those  who  composed  it.  The  existence  of  the 
Church  was  absolute,  and  as  regards  its  state  of  being  it 
was  unchangeable,  unprogressive  and  actual  as  the  faith 
which  was  its  foundation.  The  object  of  its  government 
was  the  formal  existence  of  the  Church  in  its  relations 
with  exterior  objects,  and  as  these  relations  are  suscep- 
tible of  development  and  of  progress,  so  also  the  govern- 
ment should  develop  and  progress.  For  this  reason  the 
ruling  power  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  entire  episcopate  could 
not  manifest  itself  in  the  first  age  of  the  Church  in  the 
same  manner  as  it  did  in  succeeding  ages.  Preaching  and 
the  faith  will  always  be  the  same ;  but  the  governing  power 
will  always  vary  according  to  the  force  of  its  progress; 
and  will  accompany  the  society  of  the  faithful,  which  be- 
ing human  and  visible,  is  visibly  developed  around  the 
pivot  of  faith.  Hence  the  scandal  of  the  Jansenists  and 
Regal ists  at  seeing  the  Church,  after  the  first  ages,  extend 
its  power,  and  multiply  its  canons,  is  rather  a  sin  against 
reason.  Acknowledging  the  Church  to  be  visible  and 
directed  by  a  visible  power,  they  obstinately  persisted  in 
believing  it  despoiled  of  all  power,  or  in  other  words  in 
believing  a  contradiction. 

Preach  the  Gospel,  that  is  to  say  the  faith  to  every  crea- 
ture, said  Christ  to  the  Apostles  and  their  successors;  but 
since  this  faith  should  be  expressed  perceptibly  by  works, 
by  worship,  and  by  the  Sacraments,  they  could  not  com- 
plete their  mission  in  a  manner  so  as  not  to  leave  the  ex- 
ercise of  it  to  their  successors  until  the  end  of  time.  The 
visibility  therefore  of  the  Church  is  the  soil  on  which  the 
power  of  governing  must  indeterminately  develop  itself. 
Now  since  the  power  of  governing  a  society  is  relative  to 
all  which  tends  to  destroy  it,  it  is  evident  that  the  sub- 
jective power  will  always  be  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
offences  committed  against  the  society.  If  the  offences 
increase,  the  power  will  increase,  as  will  also  the  laws 
which  are  the  expression  of  it.  So  before  any  one  had 
dared  to  touch  the  offerings  of  the  faithful,  the  power  of 
securing  them  did  not  manifest  itself,  it  was  not  known 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  219 

to  the  faithful,  although  it  existed  in  the  Pope.  The  first 
usurpation  of  the  sacred  patrimony  of  the  Church  made 
that  power  subjectively  exist,  and  the  repeated  exercise 
of  it  begot  the  law  against  usurpers  which  is  nothing  but 
a  permanent  power.  Wherefore  although  St.  Peter  did 
not  promulgate  laws  against  the  usurpers  of  the  goods  of 
the  Church,  whereas  his  successors  had  promulgated 
many,  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  he  did  not  have  the 
power,  and  that  his  successors  usurped  it.  So  then  if  we 
find  the  Papal  power  amplified  and  Papal  laws  increased, 
it  is  because  the  offences  against  the  society  of  Church 
were  multiplied  and  hence  to  this  cause,  and  not  to  ambi- 
tion should  be  ascribed  the  great  subjectivity  of  the  Papal 
power. 

The  small  number  of  laws  in  a  human  society  is  a  sign 
of  great  vitality,  just  as  a  large  number  betokens  little 
vitality  or  in  other  words  the  many  offences  committed 
against  it.  In  fact  accordingly  as  disorder  increased  in 
civil  society  through  barbarity  and  consequently  in  the 
discipline  of  the  Church,  so  the  subjective  power  of  the 
Pope  increased,  the  laws  increased,  and  so  did  the  need 
increase  of  compiling  them  in  a  collection,  so  as  to  render 
permanent  by  material  proofs  that  power,  which  was  ren- 
dered morally  such  by  the  laws.  . 

In  this  principle  we  find  living  and  as  it  were  palpi- 
tating with  truth,  the  reasons  for  all  those  changes  in 
discipline  which  had  scandalized  the  Jansenists.  The 
need  of  power,  the  pressing  necessity,  and  the  great  in- 
crease of  evils  induced  the  Pope  to  exercise  it  suddenly 
and  peremptorily.  A  dictatorship  in  republics  was  en- 
gendered by  the  existence  and  greatness  of  the  evils  that 
threatened  them. 

In  the  time  of  Boniface  the  offences  against  the  Church, 
although  combated  by  the  Papal  power  for  many  cen- 
turies, had  taken  the  form  of  right,  which  was  that  of 
Princes.  Therefore  the  natural  force  of  evil  doubled  itself 
by  the  power  of  this  form.  And  when  it  seemed  that  in 
the  new-born  civilization  these  offences  should  diminish 
in  number  and  strength,  they  multiplied  and  increased 
through  the  very  benefits  of  civilization.  Hence  the  Papal 
power,  whose  strength  it  seemed  should  have  declined,  was 
also  reinvigorated,  and  far  from  the  old  canons  losing 


220  HISTORY;    OE    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

their  force,  they  reappeared  more  threatening  by  the  addi- 
tion of  new  ones.  Therefore  just  as  civilization  gave  to 
the  offences  committed  against  the  Church  the  form  of  a 
lay  right,  so  Boniface  gave  to  all  the  Papal  power  the  form 
of  his  own  right,  and  this  form  was  expressed  by  the  Sixth 
Book  of  the  Decretals. 

Thus  reasoning  we  find  ourselves  brought  to  a  conse- 
quence, which  we  laid  down  as  a  principle  in  the  first 
pages  of  this  history,  namely  that  Boniface  was  the  man 
of  a  passive  revolution,  that  is  to  say  the  personification 
of  the  civil  Papacy  in  himself,  his  own  ruin  occurred  with 
that  of  the  civil  Papacy.  Therefore  if  this  Pontiff  is  to  be 
presented  to  posterity  in  all  the  fullness  of  his  personal- 
ity, he  should  not  be  dissociated  from  the  sixth  book  of 
the  Decretals,  which  is  the  strongest  expression  of  him 
and  of  the  Papacy. 

All  the  Canons  collected  up  to  the  time  of  Innocent  III, 
and  comprised  in  the  Decree  of  the  monk  Gratian,  and  in 
the  two  collections  of  Decretals  of  Bernard  Circa  and  John 
Vallense,  although  the  doctors  in  the  universities  made 
use  of  them  yet  they  had  not  as  yet  the  force  of  laws  by 
the  authoritative  decree  of  the  Popes.  But  since  Innocent 
III  administered  the  Papacy  in  the  strength  of  its  power, 
in  order  to  establish  it  firmly  he  was  led  to  put  his  seal  on 
his  collection  of  the  Decretals,  which  he  increased  by  the 
aid  of  Peter,  Deacon  of  Benevento,  compiling  a  third  col- 
lection which  contained  those  canons  which  emanated 
from  him.  The  canons  of  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council, 
and  the  subsequent  decrees  of  Innocent  are  contained  in 
the  fourth  collection  of  an  unknown  author.  The  decree 
of  Honorius  III  had  from  this  Pope  approval  and  force 
of  laws.  Finally  this  particular  Papal  approval  was  ex- 
tended by  Gregory  IX  to  all  the  Decretals  from  the  time 
of  Gregory  the  Great  to  his  own  times,  to  the  Apostolic 
Canons,  to  the  Canons  of  the  Councils  from  that  of  An- 
tioch  down  to  the  4th  Lateran  Council.  All  these  were 
combined  by  Pennafort,  and  were  divided  into  five  books. 
They  were  solemnly  published  and  given  as  laws  to  be 
followed  in  the  tribunals  and  schools. 

The  last  epistles  of  Gregory  IX,  the  canons  of  the  two 
Councils  of  Lyons,  and  the  constitutions  of  the  Popes  who 
succeeded  Gregory,  and  those  published  by  Boniface  in 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  221 

the  first  four  years  of  his  Pontificate,  were  already  most 
important  and  sufficient  for  a  new  collection.  The  canons 
of  the  1st  Council  of  Lyons,  promulgated  during  long 
struggles  of  the  Church  with  Frederick  II,  and  the  consti- 
tutions of  Boniface,  published  in  times  of  violence  had  a 
certain  vital  energy;  they  were  not  to  remain  outside  of 
the  body  of  ecclesiastical  right,  nay  they  were  even  de- 
manded by  the  same  right  as  its  sovereign  form.  And  this 
was  truly  remarkable,  that  this  demand  for  the  insertion 
of  these  laws  did  not  come  from  the  clergy  nor  from  the 
Papal  authority,  but  from  the  assembly  of  the  doctors  of 
Bologna. 

The  University  of  Bologna  dispatched  to  Boniface 
James  of  Castello,  chaplain  of  the  church  of  that  city  to 
beseech  him  to  make  an  addition  to  the  body  of  Canon  Law 
composed  of  five  books ;  to  separate  the  false  from  the  true 
Decretals  published  since  Gregory  IX,  and  to  sanction  it 
with  his  authority  in  the  law  court.  James  being  kindly 
received  by  the  Pope,  was  standing  in  his  presence;  but 
as  he  was  very  short  of  stature,  Boniface,  thinking  that  he 
was  in  a  kneeling  posture,  gave  him  a  sign  to  rise.  But 
Cardinal  Matthew  of  Acquasparta  who  was  beside  him 
undeceived  the  Pope  by  a  joke  which  hurt  the  feelings 
of  the  honorable  messenger,  saying :  "  He  is  a  new  Zac- 
cheus."  1 

Boniface  set  about  immediately  to  put  in  effect  the  de- 
sire of  the  famous  University.  He  selected  three  persons 
most  learned  in  law,  William  of  Mandagout,  Archbishop 
of  Ambrun,  Berengarius  Fredoli,  Bishop  of  Beziers,  and 
Richard  Petroni  of  Siena.  To  these  he  entrusted  that 
compilation,2  which  in  1298  was  published  under  the  name 
of  the  Sixth  Book  of  the  Decretals.  Boniface  addressed  it 
to  the  University  of  Bologna,  with  that  letter  which  is 
found  in  the  beginning  of  the  Sixth  Book.  The  compilers 
as  a  reward  were  afterwards  raised  to  the  Cardinalate. 

These  men  in  the  compilation  of  the  work  had  as  a  com- 
panion Dino  of  Mugello,  a  celebrated  juris-consult  of  his 
time.  Born  in  Florence  in  that  part  of  the  city  which  was 
named  Mugello  by  James  Rossoni,  he  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  law  in  Bologna.  In  that  city  he  was  pro- 

'Tirabaschi  "History  of  Literature.     Book  2nd,  pages  239  and  138. 
3  Preface  to  Book  VI  of  Decretals. 


222         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

fessor,  as  well  in  Pistoja.  Such  renown  for  learning  did 
he  acquire,  that  during  his  lifetime  the  Veronese  estab- 
lished by  law  that  in  passing  sentence,  wherever  the  laws 
and  the  municipal  statutes,  the  Roman  Laws,  and  the 
commentaries  of  Accorso  did  not  touch  upon  the  matter 
or  held  contrary  opinion,  all  should  consult  and  follow  the 
opinion  of  Dino.  In  October,  1297,  being  summoned  to 
Rome  by  Boniface  for  the  compilation  of  the  Sixth  of 
the  Decretals,  he  repaired  thither,  where  he  taught  school. 
The  services  which  he  rendered  the  Pontificate  during 
that  time  stirred  up  in  his  breast  the  desire  for  the  dignity 
of  Cardinal,  with  which  he  believed  the  Pontiff  should 
reward  him.  And  so  much  did  his  not  dishonorable  ambi- 
tion confirm  him  in  this  opinion,  that  having  bade  fare- 
well to  his  wife,  Bice,  he  obliged  her  to  devote  herself  to 
God  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Columbanus  in  Bologna,  and  he 
became  a  cleric.  Unfortunate  expectations!  The  only 
honor  he  gained  was  that  of  having  put  his  hand  to  the 
Sixth  of  the  Decretals,  and  perhaps  the  repentance  of 
marital  sequestration.  Some  will  have  it  that  he  died  of 
grief.  So  Dino  after  instructing  so  many  others  in  the 
laws,  did  not  know  how  to  instruct  himself.  He  had  not 
learned  that  greediness  for  dignities  is  a  sign  of  intemp- 
erance in  the  truly  wise,  who  possess  the  highest  of  digni- 
ties, that  of  intelligence,  which  neither  princes  can  accord 
nor  tyranny  can  steal. 

Although  Boniface  had  in  a  fatherly  manner  replied  to 
the  edict  published  by  Philip  the  Fair  in  anger,  caused  by 
the  constitution  "  Clericis,"  yet  there  was  such  freedom 
and  authority  of  decisions  in  the  response  that  the  mind 
of  that  king  should  have  been  aroused  to  additional  anger. 
However,  there  was  a  mutual  continence  of  the  anger 
which  agitated  the  Papal  and  royal  breasts.  The  ruined 
but  threatening  Colonnas  restrained  Boniface  and  a  great 
federation  of  unfriendly  princes  curbed  Philip.  Hence  in 
the  course  of  our  history  we  shall  find  that  the  Pope  is 
still  a  friend  and  supporter  of  the  king,  and  the  latter  if 
not,  is  at  least  not  an  open  enemy. 

Philip  and  Edward  were  still  at  war,  when  Guy,  Count 
of  Flanders,  came  to  prolong  and  increase  it.  He  could 
not  rest  peaceful  because  his  daughter  Philippa  betrothed 
to  the  son  of  Edward,  was  held  a  prisoner  by  Philip.  He 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  223 

assembled  a  large  parliament  at  Grammont,  at  which  were 
present  the  ambassador  of  England,  those  of  Adolph  king 
of  the  Romans,  of  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  and  of  almost  all 
of  the  princes  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  Lorraine.  He 
complained  of  the  imprisonment  of  his  daughter;  and  all 
proffered  aid  against  Philip;  but  before  breaking  off  rela- 
tions with  the  latter,  they  decided  to  send  to  him  a  solemn 
embassy,  to  demand  the  liberation  of  the  innocent  prin- 
cess. It  is  sent  but  it  returned  with  a  refusal.3  Then  Guy 
made  an  alliance  with  Edward,  each  one  binding  himself 
not  to  make  peace  without  the  consent  of  the  other;  the 
other  daughter  Isabella  was  betrothed  to  the  young  Eng- 
lish prince  instead  of  Philippa,  and  her  dowry  was  to  re- 
main in  the  hands  of  the  Fleming  to  carry  on  the  war 
against  Philip  the  Fair,  together  with  a  hundred  thousand 
livre  which  had  been  promised  by  Edward.4  The  Counts 
of  Savoy  and  of  Granson  entered  into  the  league,  and  they 
were  sent  to  rouse  to  arms  all  the  lords  of  Brittany, 
although  John  duke  of  that  country  had  been  detached 
by  Edward.5  They  succeeded  in  their  design,  for  with 
thirty  thousand  livre  of  the  English  king  they  induced 
the  Counts  of  Auxerre,  of  Montbelliard,  the  lords  of  Ar- 
lay,  of  Neuchatel,  of  Montfaucon,  and  of  Faucigny.6  The 
Count  of  Savoy,  Amadeus  V,  was  induced  to  join  the 
league,  by  the  promise  as  wife  of  Jane  the  niece  of  Ed- 
ward.7 On  the  other  hand  Adolph,  King  of  the  Romans, 
rose  in  arms  against  France,  by  whom  he  was  joined  by 
the  Duke  of  Brabant,  the  Count  of  Hainaut  and  of  Guel- 
dria,  the  Bishops  of  Liege,  and  Utrecht,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Cologne.8  A  formidable  league,  which  would 
have  put  Philip  in  the  direst  straits,  if  the  confederates 
had  not  been  in  separate  places,  and  if  the  gold  of  France, 
more  plentiful  than  that  of  England,  had  not  dissuaded 
the  Germans  from  taking  up  arms  against  him.  And  now 
was  the  opportunity  for  Boniface  to  show  himself,  if  such 
he  was,  the  enemy  of  Philip,  either  by  aiding  the  allies,  or 
by  giving  the  meaning  to  the  Constitution  "  Clericis  "  the 
meaning  which  the  royal  ministers  attributed  to  it,  namely 
to  deprive  him  of  all  subsidy  of  money  to  be  drawn  from 

8  Ondegherst.  Annals  of  Flanders,  c.  132,  1.  *Rymer,  Tom.  II, 

page  737,  742.  5  Idem  page  733.  •  Idem  Tom.  II,  page  778. 

TIdem  Tom.  II,  page  759.  'Idem  Tom.  II,  pages  752,  763,  768. 


224  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

the  sacred  patrimony.     But  let  us  proceed  and  we  shall 
find  that  Boniface  wheedled  this  unruly  prince. 

The  ardor  with  which  these  princes  entered  into  the 
league,  exceeded  that  with  which  they  came  to  the  war. 
The  hosts  of  Edward,  of  Adolph,  of  the  Bishops  of  the 
Empire,  and  of  the  Count  of  Gueldria  delayed  to  advance. 
Guy  was  the  only  one  who  confronted  Philip,  who  on  June 
2nd,  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  having  assembled  the  flower 
of  the  army  at  Compiegne,  at  the  head  of  it  entered  Flan- 
ders and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Lille.9  Having  sustained 
defeat  at  Fumes  and  Comines  the  Flemish  were  compelled 
to  open  the  gates  of  Lille,  of  Furnes,  of  Castel,  and  of 
Berg  St.  Vinox.10  Edward  arrived  only  to  share  in  the 
discomfiture  of  the  Flemish.  But  before  he  advanced  with 
his  army,  assembled  at  London  on  the  1st  of  August,  some 
of  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom  came  to  him  saying  how  im- 
prudent it  was  for  him  to  go  to  war,  as  he  was  now  an 
enemy  of  the  Church,  and  excommunicated  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  whom  he  had  cruelly  persecuted; 
and  that  he  should  be  reconciled  with  him  before  leaving 
the  kingdom.  Sooner  than  have  an  enemy  in  his  own 
household,  Edward  in  full  parliament  was  reconciled  with 
Eobert  of  Winchelsey,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Moreover  he  in- 
trusted to  his  care  his  son  Edward  and  the  entire  king- 
dom. He  ratified  the  peace  by  promising  to  restore  all 
that  was  unjustly  taken.  JHe  asked  pardon  of  the  barons 
for  his  bad  conduct  of  affairs;  and  he  desired  all  to  pray 
for  him;  but  according  to  accounts,  all  did  not  pray  well 
for  him.11  He  departed  for  Flanders  with  a  small  follow- 
ing and  joined  Guy;  but  in  a  short  time  through  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  Flemish,  and  the  misfortune  that  at- 
tended them,  they  both  found  themselves  beaten  back  to 
Ghent,  and  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country  were 
captured.  The  two  princes  despairing  of  better  terms, 

•John  Villani.  Book  8,  c.  19 William  Nangii  Chroni- 
cles 1297. 

10  Villani.   Book  8,  c.   20 Nangii   Chronicles    1297. 

11  Knyghton.     English  Events.     Book  3,  chap.  9,  page  2510. — "  Et  ora- 
bant  quidam  publice  alii  autem  sic;  alii  vero  occulte,  pauci  vero  bene." — 
Walsingham,   "  Flores   Historiae,"   year   1297. — Matthew  of   Westminster, 
yr.  1297. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  225 

seeing  that  the  remarkable  successes  of  Philip  had  dis- 
couraged the  lesser  nobles  who  had  entered  the  league, 
asked  for  an  armistice.  Philip  granted  it,  both  because 
of  the  approach  of  winter,  and  because  his  mind  was  more 
inclined  to  diplomacy  than  to  wage  war.12  In  October  of 
1297  William  d'Autun,  a  Dominican  Friar  and  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  both  Ed- 
ward and  Philip,  induced  them  to  prolong  the  truce.13 
The  Papal  legates  Nicholas  Boccasino,  general  of  the 
Dominicans,  and  John  Minio  of  Murro,  general  of  the 
Franciscans 14  arrived,  and  Charles  of  Naples  himself 
sent  by  Boniface  to  obtain  peace:15  and  through  their 
means  an  armistice  for  two  years  was  signed  in  the  mon- 
astery of  St.  Martin  of  Tournai.16 

A  great  debt  of  gratitude  was  owed  by  Philip  to  Boni- 
face, who  admirably  assisted  him  during  this  war  which 
lasted  about  three  months.  If  in  the  Constitution  "  Cler- 
icis  Laicos  "  there  had  been  hidden  a  spirit  hostile  to  the 
king,  and  if  the  interpretation  of  the  malicious  courtiers 
was  true,  it  is  certain  that  Philip  would  not  have  received 
subsidies  from  the  churches,  of  which  he  was  in  extreme 
need  to  carry  on  a  rather  difficult  war.  On  the  contrary 
when  the  Pope  was  asked  by  the  French  prelates  how  they 
would  act  towards  the  king  in  regard  to  granting  money 
and  men,  seeing  the  kingdom  so  much  threatened,  and 
yet  themselves  held  in  check  by  the  Constitution,  in  the 
following  words  he  gave  a  satisfactory  answer  to  their 
inquiry  :17  "  Although  we  have  published  this  Constitution 
"  as  a  preserver  of  ecclesiastical  liberty,  yet  it  was  not 
"  our  intention  to  deprive  of  subsidies  the  king,  and  the 
"  other  lay  princes,  when  in  distress,  and  especially  when 
"  in  fear  of  an  unjust  invasion  from  without,  and  a  revo- 
"  lution  from  within,  with  evident  danger  to  prelates, 
"  Churches,  and  clerics.  We  desire  simply  that  this  be 
"  done  with  our  permission,  and  be  the  free  and  sponta- 
"  neous  gift  of  the  clergy  for  the  common  defence.  And 
"  just  as  at  other  times  both  by  messengers  and  letters  we 
"  signified  to  the  King  and  the  other  princes  of  the  realm, 

"Rymer,  Tom.  78,  page  95.  M  Chronicles.  Nic.  Trivet.  1297. 

14  Spondani  year  1298.  »  Villani.  Book  8,  v.  20. 

"Nangis,  year  1297.  apud  Achery  Spic.  tome  3,  page  52. 
"  Reg.  Vatican.  An.  3,  page  26,  Raynaldus  44. 


226  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

"that  if  (which  God  forbid)  the  kingdom  were  in  immi- 
"  nent  danger,  far  from  prohibiting  subsidies,  not  only 
"  would  we  allow  him  to  be  provided  with  money  from  the 
"  sacred  patrimony  of  his  kingdom,  but  what  is  more  we 
"  would  proffer  him,  as  far  as  our  honor  and  that  of  the 
"  Church  would  permit,  the  goods,  the  substance,  the 
"  power  of  Holy  Church,  and  even  our  own  person,  for  the 
l<  preservation  of  his  rights  and  for  his  relief  in  dire 
"  necessity."  These  kind  and  amiable  words  which  came 
from  his  heart,  Boniface  wrote  on  the  19th  of  February, 
as  previously  on  the  7th  of  the  same  month  the  request 
was  kind  which  he  sent  to  Philip,  to  revoke  the  edict  which 
prohibited  money  to  be  sent  to  Rome,  and  the  clergy  found 
outside  of  the  realm  from  receiving  the  revenue  of  their 
benefices.18  And  his  actions  bear  testimony  to  the  sincer- 
ity of  his  words.  We  find  in  the  Vatican  Register  of  the 
letters  of  Boniface  various  letters  which  make  mention  of 
the  money  given  to  Philip.  He  granted  him  a  half  of  the 
alms  that  had  been  collected  for  an  expedition  to  the  Holy 
Land,19  a  half  of  the  money  that  was  owed  by  certain 
debtors  to  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Toledo ; 20  and  finally  during 
the  war,  he  allowed  him  to  collect  for  himself  the  revenue 
for  the  first  year  of  all  the  vacant  benefices  in  the  King- 
dom.21 And  in  order  to  prove  that  the  Papal  constitutions 
sanctioned  in  favor  of  the  immunities  of  the  clergy,  were 
not  destructive  of  civil  order  and  safety,  he  gave  him  full 
power  to  make  himself  sure  of  the  person  of  those  of  the 
clergy  whom  he  suspected  during  the  war.22  Moreover  he 
wrote  to  the  Archbishop  and  chapter  of  the  city  of  Lyons, 
to  be  on  their  guard  and  protect  the  city,  lest  it  might  fall 
into  the  hands  of  enemies  whilst  the  king  was  engaged 
in  war.23  This  indeed  was  not  a  sign  of  that  venomous 
rancor,  that  Boniface  had  been  accused  of  bearing  towards 
Philip;  nor  was  it  a  sign  that  he  wished  to  make  him  a 
vassal,  as  those  most  humble  courtiers  proclaimed,  whose 
minds  were  clouded  by  the  famous  Constitution.  And  be- 
sides whilst  Philip  was  engaged  in  the  war  Boniface  re- 
leased him  from  whatever  censure  he  may  have  incurred 
by  the  edict  published  in  opposition  to  the  Constitution, 
through  the  Archbishop  of  Auxerre24  and  through  his 

"Raynaldus  46.     "Epistle  54.  an  3.     20  Epistle  55.—     91  Epistle  60.— 
*  Epistle  50.—        »  Epistle  63.—        M  Vat.  Register,  Epistle  4,  year  3. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  227 

confessor;  so  he  proceeded  to  interrupt  in  his  favor,  in  a 
manner  the  most  advantageous,  that  Constitution,  so 
shamefully  and  maligantly  distorted  by  the  king's  cour- 
tiers.25 And  in  order  that  it  might  not  appear,  that  by 
any  peculiar  circumstance  he  was  induced  to  give  these 
interpretations,  he  ordered  them  afterwards  to  be  inserted 
in  the  Sixth  of  the  Decretals.26 

Boniface  was  no  less  benevolent  to  Edward,  who  a  loser 
in  the  Flemish  War,  had  great  need  of  powerful  mediators, 
so  as  to  reconcile  him  with  Philip.  Adolph  could  give  him 
no  further  thought;  the  Scotch  were  in  a  ferment,  and 
were  threatening  to  break  out  into  open  war,  being  aroused 
by  Wallace,  a  Scottish  chieftain,  who  abhorred  the  subjec- 
tion to  England.  The  losses  sustained  in  Flanders  were 
many  and  heavy ;  he  asked  for  a  truce,  and  obtained  it. 
This  was  secured  through  the  influence  of  Boniface.  For 
we  have  already  seen  how  Philip  flushed  by  success,  in- 
terrupted the  progress  of  the  war,  through  the  kind  offices 
of  Charles  II  whom  the  Pope  had  sent  to  him;  and  on 
Christmas  Day,  Edward  being  still  in  Flanders,  Papal 
messengers  came  to  exhort  him,  as  they  had  likewise  done 
with  Philip,  to  change  that  truce  into  a  treaty  of  peace. 
For  that  purpose  he  should  send  to  the  Roman  See  envoys, 
who  would  submit  the  reasons  of  their  quarrel  to  Boni- 
face, who  not  as  a  judge  and  Pope,  but  as  a  good  mediator 
of  peace  would  define  the  rights  of  both  parties,  and  each 
one  would  promise  to  abide  by  the  decision.  The  messen- 
ger had  not  much  difficulty  in  persuading  Edward,  who 
on  account  of  the  embarrassed  state  of  his  affairs,  anx- 
iously longed  for  some  such  an  arrangement.27  The  pro- 
position was  also  agreeable  to  Philip ;  and  the  English  and 
French  envoys  repaired  to  Rome.28  See  the  confidence 
which  these  two  princes,  jealous  of  their  sovereignty, 
placed  in  the  intelligence  and  the  honesty  of  heart  of  Boni- 
face. Is  it  any  wonder  then  that  those  Pontiffs  of  Italian 
nationality  should  have  dominated  over  all  the  princes  of 
Christendom  with  the  arms  of  justice? 

The   favors   which   Boniface  had  lavished   on   Philip, 
whilst  the  heavy  weight  of  war  was  pressing  down  on  him, 

"Vat.  Register,  Epistle  5,  Raynaldus  49.     Epistle  47,  Rayn. 

"  Book  3  de  Immun.  Eccl.  chapter  "  Clericis."  v  Walsingham. 

"Chronicles  of  Nicholas  Trivetti,  year  1298 — Achery,  torn.  3,  p.  222. 


228  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

and  also  the  care  with  which  he  brought  to  a  successful 
end  the  canonization  of  his  grandfather,  Louis,  was  a 
splendid  proof  to  that  Prince  of  the  predilection  of  Boni- 
face for  the  Royal  House  of  France.  At  the  same  time  in 
the  heart  of  Edward  all  hope  vanished  of  a  rupture  be- 
tween Philip  and  the  Pope,  regarding  the  affair  of  the 
Constitution,  which  would  have  been  to  his  advantage  in 
the  war.  For  which  reason  although  he  wished  to  profit 
by  that  armistice  in  order  to  reunite  the  league  and  renew 
the  war,  yet  he  suddenly  courted  the  desire  of  peace.  This 
also  made  him  exceedingly  desirous  of  deserting  Adolph, 
because  other  things  at  home,  and  the  furious  uprising  in 
Scotland  claimed  his  attention.  Also  Philip  desired  peace, 
both  because  he  was  victorious  and  not  a  lover  of  war,  and 
because  the  people  were  no  longer  enthusiastic,  and  were 
assuming  a  threatening  attitude  owing  to  the  many  exac- 
tions. To  such  well-disposed  minds  Boniface  presented 
himself  as  a  peace-maker.  Edward  who  was  in  dire  straits 
first  chose  him  as  arbiter  of  the  reasons  of  his  quarrel  with 
Philip.29  He  dispatched  six  ambassadors  to  Rome  giving 
them  full  power  by  letters  he  wrote  at  Ghent  the  18th 
of  February  of  1298.30  And  to  show  that  he  was  sincere 
in  his  desire  for  peace,  he  departed  from  Flanders,  and  in 
March  he  arrived  in  the  harbor  of  Sandwich.31 

Philip  also  satisfied  with  the  arbiter  chosen,  and  like 
Edward  bound  himself  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  Boni- 
face under  the  severe  penalty  of  paying  a  hundred  thou- 
sand silver  marks.  Yet  ever  fearing  that  his  principality 
might  lose  some  of  its  rights,  he  preferred  that  the  Pope 
in  judging  should  preside  not  in  his  character  as  Pope,  but 

29  These  courts  of  peaceful  arbitration  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  By 
agreement  between  the  two  contending  princes  the  settlement  of  their 
differences  was  often  intrusted  to  a  bishop ;  a  strong  proof  of  the  reverence 
and  confidence  which  they  had  for  the  hierarchy.  We  find  that  in  1283 
Edward  of  England,  as  Duke  of  Gascony,  being  at  law  with  the  bishop  and 
chapter  of  Bazas,  regarding  jurisdiction  over  the  territory  of  that  city, 
both  by  agreement  confided  the  settlement  of  the  lawsuit  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Bishop  of  Aine. — "  Ista  est  littera  omologacionis  et  consensus 
Episcopi  et  capituli  Vasatensium,  super  quibusdam  articulis  pertinentibus 
ad  compositionem  factam  inter  Dominum  Regem  Angliae  et  ecclesiam 
Vasatensem."  Unedicted  document  on  the  History  of  France.  Letters  of 
Kings  V,  I.  30  Walsingham — 'Trivet.  Chronicles  1298 — Rymer, 

torn.  2,  p.  825.  "Idem. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  229 

as  a  private  person,  that  is  to  say,  as  Benedict  Gaetani. 
The  agreement  with  this  clause  added  was  drawn  up  in 
Rome  on  the  14th  of  June  1298,  and  the  rights  of  two 
great  princes  tired  of  war  were  weighed  in  the  mind  of 
Boniface.32 

Anxieties  at  home  and  the  noise  of  arms  which  re- 
sounded in  the  Papal  court  itself,  did  not  divert  the  truly 
great  mind  of  Boniface  from  the  consideration  of  foreign 
affairs.  On  the  27th  of  June,  precisely  when  hostilities 
with  the  Colonnas  were  beginning,  in  a  public  consistory 
Boniface  presided  as  judge  in  the  great  contest  of  Philip 
and  Edward,  whose  eagerness  for  war  had  subsided  during 
the  two  years  armistice.  There  were  thirteen  cardinals 
present,  and  a  countless  number  of  people  had  assembled 
to  hear  the  solemn  decision.  The  minds  of  all  were  curi- 
ous to  see  how  Boniface,  called  to  judge  as  Benedict 
Gaetani,  although  he  was  Pope,  and  presided  as  Pope, 
would  render  judgment  regarding  the  rights  of  these  two 
most  powerful  princes.  No  one  doubted  his  wisdom,  nor 
his  uncompromising  judgment;  but  they  suspected  that 
on  account  of  the  unusual  solemnity  of  the  office  and  his 
well-known  attachment  to  things  Roman  he  might  be  un- 
just to  both,  or  that  a  hidden  enmity  against  France  might 
induce  him  to  act  too  severely  towards  Philip.  Boniface 
was  not  a  saint,  but  jealous  as  he  was  of  the  authority  of 
the  Papal  Chair,  he  was  equally  most  zealous  for  the 
authority  of  justice.  Before  a  final  decision  could  be 
reached  Boniface  would  be  obliged  to  quiet  the  envoys  of 
England  who  were  objecting,  that  they  could  not  arrive  at 
an  agreement  with  the  French  King,  without  violating 
the  faith  of  their  master  with  Adolph,  King  of  the  Romans, 
and  Guy,  Count  of  Flanders,  to  whom  he  had  sworn  not 
to  make  peace  without  their  concurrence.  However  Boni- 
face knew  how  to  surmount  even  this  obstacle,  and  he 
decided :  "  The  armistice  agreed  upon  between  Edward 
"  and  Philip  should  be  prolonged  in  order  to  change  it  into 
"  peace ;  they  should  confirm  it,  and  render  it  durable  by 
"  ties  of  blood :  Philip  should  give  in  marriage  his  daugh- 
"  ter,  a  child  who  was  upwards  of  seven  years,  to  Edward 
11  the  eldest  son  of  the  English  king,  and  the  latter  should 
"  marry  the  sister  of  Philip.  To  each  one  was  to  be  re- 

n  Idem. 


230  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  turned  that  which  belonged  to  him  before  the  breaking 
"  out  of  the  war ; — Acquitaine  was  to  be  returned  to  the 
"  control  of  Edward,  but  he  was  even  to  remain  a  vassal 
"  of  France ;  Philip  was  to  have  dominion  over  it.  The 
"  lands  occupied  by  both  parties  during  the  war  were 
"  to  be  surrendered  into  the  custody  of  the  Pope,  until 
"  they  could  come  to  some  agreement  concerning  the  same. 
"  And  during  this  time  neither  one  should  be  considered 
"  gainer  or  loser  in  their  respective  rights.  That  which 
"  they  agreed  upon  should  be  sacred  and  inviolable,  that 
"  about  which  there  might  be  doubts  or  dissensions  was 
"  always  to  be  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  Pope."  3S 

Having  thus  decided  this  difficult  affair,  Boniface 
quickly  sent  the  treaty  to  Edward  and  Philip,  exhorting 
them  by  fervent  letters,  to  ratify  it,  and  telling  them  that 
they  were  mutually  bound  to  stand  by  it,  and  that  he 
would  not  have  become  judge  in  the  affair  if  they  had  not 
requested  it.  He  ordered,  that  into  the  custody  of  Arnold 
Bishop  of  Toulouse,  Philip  should  surrender  the  lands  he 
had  seized  in  Acquitaine,  and  which  belonged  to  Edward 
prior  to  the  war,  and  Edward  should  give  up  the  lands  he 
had  taken  from  Philip  during  the  war.34  He  absolved 
Guy  of  Flanders  from  the  oath  which  bound  him  to  give 
his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Edward,  eldest  son  of  the 
King  of  England ; 3B  and  dispensed  the  latter  from  the 
degree  of  relationship  which  existed  between  him  and 
Isabella  of  France.36  So  it  seemed  there  were  no  longer 
any  impediments  to  the  longed  for  peace. 

The  decision  given  by  Boniface  as  a  private  person  was 
differently  received  by  the  princes  who  had  requested  it. 
If  one  of  the  two  ought  not  to  complain,  that  one  was 
assuredly  Philip.  The  Pope  on  July  3rd  had  sent  a  Bull 
to  Philip,  in  which  he  promised  that  nothing  would  be 
added  to  the  given  decision  without  his  consent  declared 
by  letters  or  special  messengers.37  Moreover  on  the  10th 
of  the  same  month  he  sent  another  letter  to  Edward,  re- 
questing him  not  to  undertake  an  expedition  of  war 
against  the  Scotch.  These  two  documents  were  favorable 
to  Philip ;  they  even  exhibit  a  special  kind  leaning  of  Boni- 

83  See  Document  A  at  end  of  Book. 

14  Vatican  registers,  epistles  233,  236,  237.  MEpist.  Book  4.  415. 

**Epist.  234 — Raynaldus  no.  7.      "Preuve  du  diff.  de  Bonif.  page  41. 


HISTORY    OF    TOPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  231 

face  towards  him.  Philip  accepted  the  truce  ordered  by 
the  Pope,  but  ever  excited  by  jealousy  of  state,  which  his 
faithful  courtiers  took  occasion  to  keep  alive  in  his  mind, 
protesting  importunately,  he  said  to  the  papal  legates: 
"  that  the  temporal  government  of  his  kingdom  belonged 
"  to  him,  and  to  no  other ;  in  that  respect  he  had  no  supe- 
"  rior ;  and  that  he  would  never  submit  to  any  man  who 
"  should  pretend  to  interfere  in  the  civil  administra- 
tion." 38  We  believe  that  Philip  was  impelled  to  make 
this  outcry  by  the  fear  of  being  obliged  to  liberate  the 
daughter  of  Guy  of  Flanders,  and  to  restore  the  estates 
of  the  same.39  But  there  was  no  mention  of  this  in  the 
Papal  decision.  However  he  accepted  the  armistice  and 
the  decision  of  Boniface,  and  the  lands  taken  from  Ed- 
ward were  intrusted  to  the  Papal  Legate  Arnold,  Bishop 
of  Toulouse.  Edward  accepted  the  decision  most  kindly 
and  most  peacefully.  Hardly  had  he  received  the  letters 
of  Boniface,  exhorting  him  to  abide  by  the  decision,  and 
have  all  confidence  in  him,  than  he  read  them  to  all  the 
nobles  of  the  kingdom  assembled  in  Westminster.40  He 
published  an  edict  to  the  Gascons,  in  which  having  ex- 
plained all  that  was  effected  up  to  that  time,  he  ordered 
that  all  the  lands  and  vassals  that  he  possessed  in  the 
French  kingdom  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Papal  legate.41  The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  two  kings 

**Tres.  des  Chart.  16.    History  of  England.    Lingard,  Tom.  II,  page  38. 

38  Here  we  shall  call  attention  to  a  remark  of  Hallam  which  he  makes  in 
his  History  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  about  the  decision  of  Boniface, 
and  the  unjust  complaints  of  Philip,  and  of  some  French  writers:  The 
award  of  Boniface,  which  he  claims  to  make  both  as  Pope  and  as  a  private 
individual,  is  published  in  Rymer  and  is  very  equitable.  Nevertheless  the 
French  historians  agree  in  charging  him  with  partiality  towards  Edward, 
and  mention  several  proofs  of  it,  which  do  not  appear  in  the  Bull  itself. 
Previous  to  its  publication,  it  was  perhaps  allowable  to  follow  the  common 
tradition;  but  Velly,  a  writer  always  careless  and  not  always  honest,  has 
repeated  mere  falsehoods  from  Mezeray  and  de  Baillet,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  refers  to  the  instrument  itself  in  Rymer,  which  disproves  them. 
M.  Gaillard,  one  of  the  most  truthful  writers  that  France  has  ever  pro- 
duced, has  pointed  out  the  error  of  these  historians  in  the  Mem.  de 
1'Academie  des  Inscriptions,  and  the  editors  of  "  PArt  de  verifier  les  Dates 
have  also  rectified  it."  Hallam,  page  385.  ^Westmon.  Flor.  Hist. 

41 "nous  pour  honneur  et  pour  reverence  du  dit  pope 

avons  ja  mis  et  assigne  en  la  main  et  le  pouvoir  de 

1'honorable  pere  R.  eveque  de  Vicence,  messager  du  dit  pape,  toutes  les 


232  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

through  their  envoys  in  June,  1299,  at  Montrein-sur-mer, 
by  the  means  of  the  legate,  Bishop  of  Vicenza.42 

It  clearly  appears  from  the  decision  of  Boniface  that 
peace  had  not  been  established  by  that  armistice.  The 
cause  of  the  dissension  still  remained,  namely  the  division 
of  Acquitaine,  and  the  settlement  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
two  princes,  which  was  to  be  submitted  to  a  future  de- 
cision of  the  Pope.43 

But  the  Pope  did  not  wish  to  reopen  the  wounds  of  old 
sores  through  fear  that  the  contending  parties  who  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  his  decision,  might  escape  from  his 
power.  He  was  in  hopes  that  the  ties  of  relationship 
about  to  be  contracted  between  them  would  soften  their 
minds,  and  render  them  soon  willing  for  a  happy  and  a 
lasting  agreement.  In  May,  1299,  Edward  deputed  Ama- 
deus  V  of  Savoy  to  act  as  his  proxy  and  that  of  his  son 
in  contracting  marriage  with  Margaret  and  Isabella,  the 
one  the  sister  and  the  other  the  daughter  of  Philip.44  In 
August  Jane,  Queen  of  France,  in  writing  promised  to 
Edward  her  daughter  Isabella  as  wife,  as  soon  as  she 
reached  the  marriageable  age.45  Robert,  Count  of  Artois, 
promised  the  same  in  the  name  of  Philip.46  Unfortunate 
marriages!  which  contracted  for  the  sake  of  peace,  were 
nevertheless  the  cause  for  a  fierce  war  between  the  Eng- 
lish and  French,  which  lasted  for  almost  a  century. 

Whilst  Edward  was  at  war  with  Philip,  we  remarked 
how  the  Scotch  were  striving  by  arms  to  recover  their 
lost  independence,  and  how  this  uprising  induced  the 
English  Prince  to  come  to  some  terms  with  Philip.  He 
had  overcome  the  Scotch  in  various  battles,  and  had 
taken  their  king  John  Baliol  a  prisoner.  So  he  believed 

terres,  vassaux,  biens  et  autres  choses  que  nous  tenions  au  royaume  de 
France,  le  jour  que  la  dite  prononciation  fut  faite  ....  pour  quoi 
nous  vous  prions  et  requerrons  ....  que  soyez  des  1'heure  que 

vous  aurez  ces  lettres  recues obeissants  et  en  toutes 

choses  repondants  au  dit  eveque,  ou  a  son  mandement,  en  nom  du  devant 
dit  pape  comme  a  nous  memes."  Rymer,  Vol.  2  page  832  et  seq. 

42  Rymer.  Vol.  2,  pages  840,  851. 

**  Westm.  Flour.  Hist. — "  Romae  per  Dominum  Papam  Bonif acium  inter 
reges  Galliae  et  Angliae  pax  confirmatur,  quae  non  fuerat  totaliter  solid- 
ata." — •  **  See  the  letter  of  Edward,  the  son,  to  Amadeus  regarding  this 
marriage.  Unpublished  documents,  History  of  France,  Vol.  I,  p.  430. 

46  Idem  76,  page  431.  *  Idem  433. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  233 

no  one  else  would  oppose  him  in  enjoying  a  peaceful  rule 
over  that  courageous  nation.  But  the  flight  of  its  armies 
and  the  imprisonment  of  its  king  do  not  assure  the  sub- 
jection of  an  independent  people.  The  foundation  of  its 
rights  is  not  in  armies  nor  in  a  broken  scepter,  but  in  the 
conviction  of  right,  which  jealously  preserved  in  the  heart, 
will  sooner  or  later  free  those  who  have  been  faithful. 
This  the  Scotch  had  still  preserved  in  those  times,  and 
William  Wallace  aroused  it  to  generous  efforts.  Of  an 
humble,  but  honorable  family,  he  undertook  to  do  that 
which  a  king  had  failed  to  accomplish,  we  mean  the  feeble 
Baliol. 

Scotland  groaned,  and  bore  the  foreign  rule  like  any 
other  country  deprived  of  its  independence.  English  min- 
isters held  the  highest  public  offices,  and  an  Englishman, 
John  Warenne,  Count  of  Surrey,  supreme  power  in  the 
realm,  as  Viceroy  of  Scotland.  These  foreign  ministers 
had  laid  their  hands  on  the  goods  of  the  churches,  and  for 
that  reason  the  clergy,  more  than  the  laymen,  bore  with 
bad  grace  the  English  yoke.  Edward  with  all  his  forces 
was  at  Guienne,  when  Wallace  raised  the  standard  of 
Scotch  independence.  Having  lived  in  the  forest,  he  had 
a  brave  soul,  a  strength  of  body,  which  is  necessary  for  the 
performance  of  valorous  deeds.  At  first  he  had  but  few 
followers;  success  added  to  their  courage  and  multiplied 
their  numbers ;  and  a  fortunate  encounter  in  which  William 
Heslop,  Sheriff  of  Lanarkshire,  was  slain,  gave  celebrity 
to  the  name  of  Wallace.  They  attempted  at  Scone  to  sur- 
prise the  chief  judiciary  of  Ormesby,  who  lost  his  treas- 
ures, but  saved  himself  by  the  precipitancy  of  his  flight. 
On  a  sudden  other  chieftains  arose  in  arms  in  different 
counties  and  the  people  rushed  to  the  standard  of  inde- 
pendence. The  name  alone  of  Wallace  guided  them.  The 
origin  and  progress  of  these  numerous  parties  had  been 
viewed  with  secret  satisfaction  by  Wistecant,  Bishop  of 
Glasgow,  and  the  Grand  Master,  or  Seneschal  of  Scotland 
who  determined  to  collect  them  into  one  body,  and  give  to 
their  efforts  one  common  direction.  Declaring  themselves 
the  assertors  of  Scottish  independence,  they  invited  the 
different  leaders  to  rally  round  them;  and  the  summons 
was  obeyed  by  Wallace,  Douglas,  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay, 
Sir  Andrew  Moray,  and  Sir  Richard  Lundy.  But  dissen- 


234  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

sions  and  the  fear  of  Edward  separated  the  weak  of  heart 
from  the  strong.  All  capitulated  save  Wallace  and 
Moray,  who  having  nothing  to  lose  persevered  in  their 
purpose.  This  circumstance  increased  their  popularity 
with  the  people  and  the  common  soldiers.  The  greater 
part  of  the  army  followed  them  in  their  retreat  beyond 
the  Firth.  On  the  10th  of  September,  1298,  they  suddenly 
rushed  upon  the  royal  army  led  by  Warenne  the  marshal 
of  Scotland,  routed  them  and  put  to  the  sword  five  thou- 
sand English  knights  and  foot  soldiers  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Forth.  This  unexpected  disaster  broke  all  the  plans 
of  Warenne.  Scotland  was  rid  of  foreigners.  Wallace 
and  Moray  crossed  the  borders,  and  during  a  month 
Northumberland  and  Cumberland  were  ravaged  by  a  re- 
vengeful soldiery.47  Wallace  reached  the  height  of  his 
power.  He  called  himself  "  the  guardian  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  general  of  the  armies  of  Scotland,"  under  which 
title  he  summoned  a  parliament  to  meet  at  Perth. 

Perhaps  in  this  assembly  the  question  of  asking  aid 
from  the  Apostolic  See  was  discussed.  It  is  certain  the 
request  was  made  to  Boniface,  who  openly  undertook  to 
defend  the  independence  of  Scotland.  On  July  10th,  1298, 
he  wrote  to  Edward  earnestly  exhorting  him  to  live  at 
peace  with  his  neighbors,  the  Scotch,  and  to  listen  no 
longer  to  the  suggestions  of  his  ambition.48  To  a  request 
conveyed  in  such  general  terms  it  was  easy  to  return  an 
evasive  answer.  Wallace  dispatched  envoys  to  Rome  who 
more  powerfully  interested  Boniface  in  their  favor.  They 
referred  their  quarrel  with  the  king  of  England  to.  his  de- 
cision, because  he  was  the  only  judge  whose  jurisdiction 
extended  over  both  kingdoms :  they  reminded  him  that  by 
remaining  indifferent,  he  would  suffer  Edward  to  annex 
to  his  own  throne  a  realm,  which  of  right  belonged  to  the 
See  of  Home  as  a  fief. 

Boniface  in  welcoming  the  Scotch  envoys  had  before 
his  mind  the  rights  of  the  Church,  and  those  of  a  people 
struggling  for  their  liberty,  which  Edward  violated.  By 
word  and  by  a  document  the  legates  stated  their  claims, 
which  Boniface  sent  to  Edward.  The  English  historians 
of  this  time  assert  that  Boniface  was  led  by  the  spirit  of 

47Lingard.     History  of  England.  Vol.  II,  pages  181,  182. 
"Rymer,  II,  827. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  235 

ambition,  more  than  justice,  when  he  declared  Scotland 
to  be  a  fief  of  the  Church.  Yet  Edward  knew  well  the 
contrary  to  be  the  truth.  For  when  he  desired  Nicholas 
IV  in  1290  to  confirm  the  usurped  right  of  the  English 
crown  over  Scotland,  Nicholas  replied  that  he  could  not 
do  it,  because  it  would  be  to  deprive  the  Roman  See  of  a 
realm  which  was  subject  to  it.49  Therefore  Boniface  wrote 
to  Edward  from  Anagni  on  June  27th,  declaring  that  the 
king  should  know,  that  Scotland  had  belonged  from  the 
ancient  times,  and  did  still  belong,  in  full  right  to  the 
Roman  See.  He  then  proved  it  was  not  a  fief  of  the  Eng- 
lish crown,  from  the  following  instances:  1st,  When 
Henry,  his  father,  sought  assistance  from  Alexander, 
King  of  Scotland,  in  his  war  with  Simon  de  Montfort, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  he  acknowledged  by  letters  patent  that 
it  was  as  a  favor,  from  an  independent  king,  and  not  as  a 
feudal  service.  2nd,  When  the  same  Edward,  desirous 
of  having  Alexander  of  Scotland  present  on  the  occasion 
of  his  coronation,  he  declared  by  letters  patent  that  the 
Scottish  King  came  not  as  a  vassal,  but  through  courtesy. 
3rd,  Alexander's  oath  of  fidelity  to  Edward  concerned,  not 
Scotland,  but  the  lands  he  possessed  in  the  confines  of 
England,  and  Edward  publicly  recognized  the  oath  in 
this  sense.  4th,  At  the  death  of  King  Alexander  the  cus- 
tody of  Scotland  did  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  Edward, 
but  of  the  Scotch  nobles  chosen  by  popular  vote  on  account 
of  the  tender  age  of  Margaret,  niece  of  Edward  and 
daughter  of  Alexander.  5th,  At  the  death  of  Margaret, 
although  the  chiefs  of  the  Scottish  nation  on  account  of 
dissensions  concerning  a  successor,  had  made  Edward  the 
arbiter  of  their  quarrel,  they  did  not  however  constitute 
him  their  master.  6th,  In  the  treaty  of  marriage  between 
the  prince  of  England  and  Margaret  it  was  declared,  that 
the  kingdom  of  Scotland  should  remain  forever  free  and 
independent,  and  in  case  of  her  death  be  restored  in  that 
state  to  the  next  heir.  Finally  as  most  certain  proof  of 
the  independence  of  Scotland  and  its  separation  from  the 
English  realm  was  the  fact  that  the  Popes  always  assigned 
separate  legations  to  those  kingdoms.  The  violent  sub- 

* "  Se  non  posse  in  regno  Scotiae,  sedi  Apostolicae  obnoxio,  Ecclesiae 
Romanae  derogare,  ejusque  fiduciaries  Regi  Anglo  submittere."  Year 
1290,  Vatican  Registers,  letter  102, — 


236  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

jection  of  Scotland  manifested  itself  also  in  the  bad  treat- 
ment of  the  clergy,  especially  the  Bishops  of  Glasgow  and 
Sondor,  and  other  clergy,  who  having  opposed  his  ambi- 
tious projects,  were  subjected  to  an  ignominous  im- 
prisonment; and  that  crowd  of  ministers  whom  he  had 
left  in  that  unhappy  kingdom  to  squeeze  out  and  take 
away  the  sacred  life  substance  of  the  churches.  Hence 
the  Pontiff  expressed  the  hope  that  the  king,  desisting 
from  an  unjust  aggression,  would  set  at  liberty  the  bish- 
ops, clergy  and  natives  of  Scotland,  whom  he  had  held  in 
captivity ;  and  if  he  thought  he  had  any  right  to  the  whole 
or  part  of  that  kingdom,  would  pursue  his  claim  to  it 
within  the  six  months  following  to  the  Holy  See.50 

It  is  true  that  in  the  period  of  time  which  elapsed  be- 
tween the  death  of  Alexander,  and  the  election  of  John 
Baliol  to  the  Scottish  throne,  Edward  had  firmly  estab- 
lished himself  in  Scotland,  both  because  she  placed  her- 
self in  his  hands  to  put  an  end  to  the  contentions  of  the 
three  pretenders  to  the  crown ;  and,  as  he  said,  because  the 
rights  of  England  over  that  kingdom  went  back  to  ancient 
times.  He  had  caused  the  archives  of  monasteries  to  be 
searched,  and  their  chronicles  to  be  consulted,  which  gave 
him  most  favorable  answers  to  his  projects.51  It  could 
not  be  denied  that  the  Scotch  had  paid  homage  to  him  in 
the  person  of  John  Baliol.  But  it  had  been  done  either 
by  the  will  of  John,  who  was  king  by  the  will  of  Edward, 
and  for  that  reason  agreeable  to  him,  and  not  by  the  peo- 
ple; or  because  the  Scotch  through  fear  of  intestine  wars 
had  yielded  unwillingly;  yet  it  is  true  that  they  obtained 
from  Pope  Celestine  a  release  from  the  oath  by  which 
John  Baliol  had  bound  Scotland  to  England,52  and  they 
continued  to  fight  with  varied  success  in  order  to  gain 
their  liberty.  Boniface  deputed  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury to  bear  this  letter  to  Edward,  under  pain  of  dep- 
osition from  office  if  he  failed  to  do  so,  and  to  report  to 
him  every  act  and  word  of  the  king  when  he  read  the  Papal 
document.53  But  the  Papal  letters  did  not  reach  Edward 

60  Lingard's  History  of  England.  Vol.  II,  page  185. 

"Knyghton    de    Event.    Angliae.    Book    3,    col.    2470. — Nich.    Trivetti. 
Chronicles  year  1292. — -Archery  ap.  torn.  3.  page  213. 
MKnyghton  de  Event.  Angliae,  Book  3,  col.  2477. 
"Vatican  Register  5.  Epistle  465.  Raynaldus  99-19. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  237 

in  time.  Only  after  a  year  could  the  Archbishop  deliver 
them,  and  so  they  were  of  no  avail  to  save  Scotland  and 
her  valiant  Wallace.  The  latter  was  defeated  and  his 
army  destroyed  by  Edward  after  a  bloody  battle.  He  re- 
nounced the  title  of  guardian,  and  hid  himself  in  the 
forests  and  lived  a  roaming  life  in  order  not  be  a  witness 
of  the  evils  of  his  unhappy  country.54  So  Scotland  having 
been  inspired  with  the  hope  of  liberty  by  Philip  the  Fair, 
received  no  aid  whatever  from  him.  The  only  favor  he 
obtained  from  Edward  was  the  release  of  John  Baliol, 
who  on  July  14th,  1299,  was  given  into  the  custody  of  the 
Papal  legate,  the  Bishop  of  Vicenza.  This  unfortunate 
king  retired  to  his  estates  of  Bailleul  in  Normandy, 
France,  where  he  ended  his  days  six  years  later.55 

Edward  was  camping  with  his  army  at  Caerlaverock 
when  Winchelsey,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  bearing  the 
Papal  letter  presented  himself  on  August  26th,  1300.  The 
letter  was  publicly  read  in  Latin  and  French  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  King  and  the  barons.  It  is  quite  true  that  the 
letter  was  not  pleasing  to  Edward.  But  peace  with 
France  was  not  yet  concluded;  Gascony  was  still  seques- 
tered in  the  hands  of  the  Papal  legates;  and  Scotland 
conquered  but  restless  under  the  yoke.  Unwilling  to 
offend  one  whose  friendship  was  so  necessary  to  him,  to 
gain  time  he  replied  that  in  a  matter  which  concerned  the 
crown  it  was  his  duty  to  consult  his  counsellors:  that 
shortly  he  would  assemble  his  parliament,  and  with  its 
advice  would  return  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  Pontiff. 
In  fact  he  assembled  a  parliament  at  Lincoln  on  the  27th 
of  September.  All  the  universities  sent  their  doctors  in 
law;  and  who  brought  from  monasteries  every  document 
in  their  possession,  which  could  bear  upon  the  question. 
After  some  debate  a  reply  was  framed,  which  was  signed 
by  one  hundred  and  four  earls  and  barons,  in  the  name  of 
the  people  of  England.  In  this  they  show  that  Scotland 
never  belonged  in  temporals  to  the  see  of  Rome;  that  the 
indubitable  right  of  sovereignty  which  England  possessed 
over  that  realm  should  not  be  brought  into  question ;  that 
they  were  obliged  by  oath  to  defend  it,  and  were  most 
ready  to  defend  it  so  as  not  to  prejudice  the  rights  of  the 

"Lingard.  History  of  England.  Vol.  2,  page  189,    "Mat.  Westm.  431. 


238 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 


crown,  the  liberties,  custom  and  laws,  which  they  in- 
herited from  their  fathers.56 

Edward  wrote  also  his  defence,  which  provoked  a  reply 
from  the  Scotch.  Edward  made  use  of  a  ridiculous  in- 
vention and  traced  back  his  rights  to  the  remote  age  of 
Elias  and  Samuel.  The  Scots  opposed  fiction  to  fiction, 
and  declared  that  they  were  sprung  from  Scota,  the 
daughter  of  Pharaoh,  who  landed  in  Ireland  and  whose 
descendants  wrested  by  force  of  arms  the  northern  half 
of  Britain,  and  therefore  they  owe  no  subjection  to  the 
Britons.  From  fables  they  both  pass  on  to-  history ;  but 
neither  furnished  proofs.57  However,  the  Scotch  re- 
mained subject  to  England,  because  the  only  hope  of  their 
liberty  was  gone;  for  Boniface  at  that  period  found  him- 
self involved  in  other  affairs,  and  was  engaged  in  defend- 
ing his  own  and  not  the  independence  of  others. 

In  the  league  formed  by  Edward  against  Philip  the  Fair, 
we  have  seen  that  one  of  its  members  was  Adolph  of  Nas- 
sau, chosen  the  successor  of  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  to  be 
the  King  of  the  Romans.  He  did  nothing  against  France, 
but  to  have  declared  himself  an  enemy  was  sufficient  to  in- 
spire Philip  with  the  desire  of  revenge.  Adolph  had  as  a 
rival  in  the  election  Albert  of  Austria,  eldest  son  of  Ru- 
dolph, who  was  rejected  by  the  electors,  because  he  was  too 
haughty,  and  of  excessive  ambition,  although  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  great  military  courage.  Having  failed  in  the 
strong  desire  he  had  of  reigning,  he  hovered  about  Adolph 
in  order  to  supplant  him.  Philip  knew  this;  he  offered  to 
aid  him  to  mount  the  throne  in  order  to  revenge  himself  on 
Adolph.  He  sent  him  money,  and  promised  to  recommend 
him  to  Boniface.  The  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  the  Dukes 
of  Saxony  and  Brandenburg  embraced  his  cause,  and 
professed  friendship.  These  three  electors  having  come 
together  again  at  Mayence  in  1298  decided  that  Adolph 
was  headstrong,  under  the  influence  of  young  and  inexperi- 
enced advisers,  and  wanting  in  mental  ability  and  pecuni- 
ary resources;  they  agreed  that  he  was  no  longer  worthy 
of  the  royal  crown,  which  suited  better  the  head  of  Albert. 
They  acquainted  the  latter  of  their  will,  and  entreated  him 
to  go  and  implore  the  Pope  to  bestow  on  him  the  crown  of 

64  Chronicles.  Nich.  Trivetti  apud  Archery  Spicil.  torn.  3,  col.  224  sq. 
"Lingard.  History  of  England.  Vol.  II,  page  187. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  239 

the  king  of  the  Romans.  To  Albert  all  this  seemed  to  fall 
from  heaven,  and  quickly  consenting  to  the  request  of  the 
electors,  he  immediately  dispatched  his  ambassador  the 
Count  of  Hagirloch  to  Boniface,  who  not  being  able 
to  obtain  anything  from  his  master,  returned  joyful 
with  forged  Papal  letters,  which  he  palmed  off  as  genu- 
ine, and  which  declared  that  Boniface  was  in  every 
way  favorable  to  Albert.  The  legates  of  Adolph  hastened 
to  Rome,  and  spoke  to  Boniface  of  these  letters.  He  as- 
sured them  that  he  did  not  listen  to  the  petition  of  Albert 
at  all,  nor  did  he  send  any  letters  whatever;  they  should 
return  and  report  to  the  king,  who  in  confirmation  of  the 
assertion,  would  be  anointed  Emperor,  if  he  would  come 
to  Rome.  But  those  electors,  either  because  they  con- 
sidered the  letters  genuine  which  the  Count  of  Hagirloch 
had  brought  from  Rome,  or  because  they  pretended  to  be- 
lieve them  as  such,  repaired  to  the  cathedral  of  Mayence 
and  announced  Albert  as  king,  with  slight  consent  of  the 
Germans;  the  princes  favored  Albert,  and  the  people 
Adolph.  Then  the  rivals  began  a  furious  war,  and  in  the 
battle  fought  at  Glenheim  near  Worms,  Albert,  not  think- 
ing of  anything  else  but  the  killing  of  his  rival,  threw  the 
whole  weight  of  battle  upon  him,  who,  although  he  fought 
with  incredible  valor,  yet  was  killed  by  the  hand  of 
Albert  himself  on  July  2nd.  A  universal  diet  at  Frank- 
fort confirmed  the  conqueror  as  King  of  the  Romans,  and 
he  was  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The  death  of  Adolph  and  the  elevation  of  Albert  to  the 
throne  with  a  blood-stained  crown  could  not  be  approved 
by  Boniface.  He  did  not  find  any  inviolability  in  the 
right  nor  power  in  the  fact  that  raised  Albert  to  the 
throne.  For  the  former  he  declared  did  not  exist,  when 
his  approval  was  asked  by  the  Count  of  Hagirloch,  and  the 
latter  was  wanting  when  he  would  not  consent  to  the 
violent  intrusion  of  Albert  into  the  government.58  For  the 
Roman  Pontiffs  claimed  as  theirs  the  right  to  examine  the 
chosen  king  of  the  Romans,  to  anoint  him,  to  consecrate 
him.  and  to  declare  his  fitness  for  ruling.59  Nor  was  this 
an  assumption  of  rights.  The  Electors  themselves  ac- 
knowledged it ;  for  they  found  no  other  legal  argument  for 

"Ptolemy  of  Lucca.     Hist,  of  Church,  Book  24,  chap.  37. 

"Epistle  to  Mogunt  et  Trevir.  Archiepiscopos.  Raynaldus,  yr.  1301,  no.  2. 


240  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

substituting  Albert  in  place  of  Adolph  than  that  of  ob- 
taining Papal  letters,  which  would  appoint  the  Hapsburg 
Prince  to  the  royal  dignity.  For  this  reason  he  rebuffed 
the  ambassadors  of  Albert  who  had  come  to  ask  him  to 
confirm  the  election  of  this  prince  which  he  declared  to  be 
absolutely  null.60 

In  the  meantime  Albert  with  that  strong  disposition  of 
mind,  which  at  first  the  Electors  had  feared  so  much, 
began  to  strengthen  himself  on  the  throne,  by  humbling 
the  nobles  and  depriving  the  cities  of  their  liberties.  And 
that  Philip  of  France  might  not  undertake  to  disturb  him, 
he  entered  into  a  treaty  of  peace  with  him;  and  in  order 
next  to  gain  favor  of  Boniface,  he  spread  the  rumor  that 
he  was  willing  to  engage  the  Turks  in  battle.61  In  fact  at 
that  time  Christian  affairs  in  the  East  were  in  the  worst 
possible  condition;  and  if  Albert  had  been  truly  a  king, 
and  had  been  in  earnest  in  regard  to  war,  Boniface  would 
have  most  willingly  favored  his  desire.  For  at  the  time 
that  Albert  having  triumphed  over  his  rival  ascended  the 
throne,  Boniface  had  received  messengers  and  letters  from 
Scombal,  King  of  Armenia,  and  from  the  Patriarch  of  that 
nation,  appealing  to  him  for  aid  against  the  Turks.  Boni- 
face replied  to  them  kindly,62  exhorting  them  to  bear  a 
little  longer  the  afflictions  they  were  receiving  at  the  hands 
of  the  infidels.  For  the  establishment  of  peace  between 
Philip  and  Edward,  the  more  decided  attachment  of  James 
of  Aragon  to  the  Roman  See,  and  the  probable  conquest  of 
Sicily  inspired  him  with  the  hope  of  seeing  again  the  West 
in  arms  for  the  holy  undertaking.  But  the  times  of  the 
Crusades  were  past;  and  we  do  not  doubt  that  Boniface 
was  of  this  opinion.  Many  had  thought  that  continual 
recommendation  to  the  notice  of  Princes  the  expedition  to 
the  Holy  Land,  had  been  a  cunning  device  of  the  Popes,  to 
open  for  the  passions  of  princes  and  people  in  a  distant 
land,  so  that  alone  and  without  molestation  they  could 
cause  to  spread  more  widely  in  their  states  the  roots  of 
the  tree  of  the  Pontifical  power.  It  may  be  that  in  certain 
distressing  circumstances,  like  those  occasioned  by  the 
House  of  Suabia,  the  Popes  encouraged  a  crusade  in  order 

60  Ptolemy  of  Lucca.     History  of  the  Church.  Book  24,  chap.  37. 

61  Raynaldus,  no.  16. 

68  Book  IV,  epistle  61.    Raynaldus,  ibidem  epistle  271. 


HISTORY   OF    POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  241 

to  create  a  diversion  but  that  their  efforts  in  opposing  the 
vile  Islamitic  generation,  in  recovering  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre, the  holiest  monument  in  the  land  of  the  divine  mys- 
teries, was  with  a  view  to  their  own  advantage,  this  we 
can  never  believe.  Religion  in  mankind  desires  and  as- 
sumes human  forms,  in  which  interior  worship  is  more 
readily  developed  and  enlivened.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  a 
time  of  pure  and  candid  piety,  and  of  a  strong  and  gener- 
ous temperament,  the  Holy  Land,  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was 
precisely  the  exterior  form  best  expressing  the  interior 
belief,  both  because  it  concerned  more  immediately,  so  to 
speak,  Christ  the  object  of  the  worship,  and  because  in 
conquering  it  that  martial  spirit,  which  in  those  times  was 
most  abundant,  was  to  be  exercised.  And  the  Papacy 
never  having  been  a  stranger  to  this  tendency,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  its  guide  and  support,  could  not  resign  its  office, 
except  when  the  spirit  of  the  times  having  changed,  the 
people  would  have  found  some  other  means  of  expression. 
From  these  religious  conditions  of  the  people  those  mili- 
tary orders  originated,  which  were  to  unite  a  brave  war- 
rior to  the  austerities  of  the  cloister  (a  difficult  union), 
and  which  from  the  start  wonderfully  aided  the  Euro- 
peans in  their  pious  efforts  in  the  East.  But  afterwards 
these  instruments  of  war,  on  account  of  the  existence  of  a 
long  peace  began  to  rust  and  degenerate;  and  later  when 
the  love  of  the  Holy  War  ceased,  they  began  by  degrees  to 
be  dissolved.  In  the  time  of  Boniface  when  the  thought  of 
recovering  the  Holy  Land  had  not  as  yet  died  out,  these 
Knight  Hospitalers  and  Templars,  were  honored  and 
favored  by  the  Pope.  When  the  thought  of  fighting  the 
infidels  had  grown  cold  within  the  kings  they  forgot  the 
many  immunities  and  privileges  which  these  religious 
military  orders  enjoyed.  Although  the  island  of  Cyprus 
was  a  stepping-stone  to  the  East  for  the  Christians,  and 
had  much  to  fear  from  the  Turks,  yet  Henry  its  King,  fear- 
ing more  the  power  of  the  Templars,  sought  to  restrain  and 
curtail  it.  He  had  imposed  a  tax  of  two  bezants  a  head 
on  their  domestics  and  slaves,  and  as  the  Templars  and 
Hospitalers  could  not  acquire  new  estates  without  the 
permission  of  the  King  and  of  the  Pope,  he  had  enacted  a 
law  forbidding  them  to  increase  their  holdings  by  even  a 
span.  The  fear  was  not  groundless.  James  de  Molay, 


242  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  with  all  his  fellow  knights, 
began  to  make  loud  complaints,  which  Boniface  heeded. 
He  wrote  to  Henry  telling  him  not  to  act  harshly  towards 
them,63  to  esteem  them  for  their  custody  of  his  kingdom, 
and  for  the  sake  of  future  expeditions  to  the  Holy  Land, 
and  to  remember  the  good  service  they  had  rendered  re- 
ligion. For  this  purpose  he  sent  certain  friars  with  a 
Constitution,  that  would  reconcile  him  with  these  power- 
ful Knights. 

The  appeal  which  Boniface  made  for  aid  to  be  extended 
to  the  king  of  Armenia  against  the  Turks  manifested  his 
dispositions  and  his  moderation  towards  Philip.  We  have 
seen  how  his  decision  as  Gaetani  had  excited  in  the  French 
prince  jealousy  of  state  to  such  a  degree  as  to  call  forth 
a  remonstrance  in  defence  of  his  rights.  This  was  a  sign 
that  a  poison  was  fermenting  in  the  heart  of  Philip  since 
the  proclamation  of  the  Constitution  "  Clericis  Laicos." 
The  Pope  perceived  it,  and  remained  silent;  although  it 
was  urgent  for  him  to  complain,  because  Philip  did  not 
desist  from  violating  the  sacred  immunities.  Philip 
abused  this  silence.  However,  externally  they  seemed 
friendly,  and  between  them  there  was  such  a  display  of 
kind  offices,  that  the  people  without  knowing  the  truth, 
said  the  two  princes  were  at  peace.  As  to  a  most  Chris- 
tian king,  Boniface  wrote  to  Philip  in  October,  1298, 
recommending  to  him  the  King  of  Armenia  harassed  by 
the  Turks.  In  the  letter  there  was  a  confidence  in  the 
piety  and  good  will  of  the  King,  and  the  Pope  seemed  cer- 
tain that  if  he  would  not  go  himself,  at  least  he  would  send 
a  French  army  to  that  country.64  On  the  other  hand 
Philip  affected  to  be  a  loving  son  of  Holy  Church,  and  as 
if  consumed  by  zeal  for  the  Lord,  he  published  an  edict 
which  declared :  "  How  in  order  that  the  Inquisition  might 
"  succeed  against  the  wicked  heretics,  for  the  glory  of  God 
"  and  the  growth  of  Faith,  he  commanded  the  Dukes,  the 
"  Counts,  Barons,  Stewards,  Bailiffs,  and  Provosts,  of  his 
"  kingdom,  if  they  wished  to  show  themselves  truly  faith- 
"  ful  to  us,  to  obey  their  bishops  and  the  inquisitors 
"  deputed  or  to  be  deputed  by  the  Apostolic  See,  by  bring- 
"  ing  before  them,  whenever  requested,  all  heretics,  their 

63  Boniface's  Letters.  Book  5,  46  apud  Raynaldus  21,  year  1298-Book  V. 
Epistle  180,  Raynaldus,  year  1299-38.  <*  Raynaldus,  year  1298,  no.  19, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  243 

"  abettors,  believers,  and  receivers,  and  to  execute  forth- 
"  with  all  sentences  of  the  judges  of  the  Church,  notwith- 
"  standing  any  appeal  or  complaint  whatsoever  the  her- 
"  etics  or  abettors  might  make,  as  all  way  of  appeal  to 
them  was  closed."  65  These  things  he  sanctioned  against 
the  heretics,  who  were  not  troublesome  to  him,  but  rather 
an  advantage  on  account  of  a  pious  confiscation  he  made  of 
the  goods  of  heretics.  But  he  did  many  other  things  which 
truly  called  for  an  inquiry.  He  had  an  insatiable  thirst 
for  gold,  and  that  of  his  ministers  still  greater.  The 
Count  of  Artois  had  been  in  possession  of  the  city  of  Cam- 
brai,  which  belonged  to  the  Bishop,  and  in  the  mildest 
terms  Boniface  had  entreated  him  to  restore  it.  Philip 
had  appropriated  for  himself  the  revenues  of  the  Church 
of  Rheims  during  a  vacancy  of  that  See,  and  he  refused  to 
restore  them  to  the  new  Archbishop,  Robert  of  Courtenay. 
The  Pope  in  the  strongest  terms  recalled  to  his  mind 
how  that  custody  which  the  secular  princes  exercised  over 
the  vacant  benefices  was  only  tolerated  by  the  Church,  and 
ceased  as  soon  as  a  new  incumbent  was  chosen ;  his  minis- 
ters had  shamefully  seized  the  sacred  revenues  which  they 
should  only  have  guarded,  and  then  should  have  delivered 
to  the  newly-elected  beneficiary.66  Philip  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  these  remonstrances.  Boniface  insisted  by  letters 
which  he  sent  directly  to  the  Prince  and  also  made  use  of 
the  good  offices  of  the  Count  of  St.  Paul,  that  he  might 
prevail  upon  him  to  act  justly.  But  the  French  King 
wished  to  abuse  all  those  concessions,  which  the  Pope  had 
been  obliged  to  make  in  the  Constitution  "  Clericis  Lai- 
cos/'  in  order  that  he  might  not  complain.  His  officials 
under  the  pretence  of  taking  the  necessary  subsidies  for 
war  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  churches,  seized  them,  and 
in  doing  so  made  no  distinction  between  the  limits  of 
Church  and  of  the  State.67  Philip  who  certainly  did  not 
suffer  from  scruples,  when  he  was  draining  both  people 
and  churches  of  their  gold,  fully  understood  the  wicked 
rule  he  exercised  over  the  sacred  patrimonies,  and  the 
justice  of  the  Pope's  remonstrance;  but  not  wishing  to 
depart  from  a  road  which  was  so  delightful,  he  thought 
rather  of  strengthening  himself  in  order  to  present  a 

65  Ordonne  de  France,  torn.  I,  page  330.  *  Raynaldus,  23. 

"Raynaldus,  25. 


244  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

bolder  front  to  Boniface  when  an  open  rupture  would 
come. 

Albert,  the  new  King  of  Romans,  not  having  succeeded 
in  obtaining  from  the  Pope  a  confirmation  of  his  elevation 
to  the  throne  of  Germany,  certainly  did  not  bear  any 
good  will  towards  Boniface,  whom  he  well  knew  was  not 
of  such  a  mild  disposition  as  to  yield  to  him ;  and  he  saw 
dimly  in  the  distance  the  consequences  of  that  clash,  when 
the  fact  in  his  hands  would  engage  the  right  in  the  hands 
of  Boniface.  Therefore  he  did  not  rest  content  and  in- 
active, but  set  about  energetically  in  his  search  for  some 
one,  in  a  like  condition  in  opposition  to  the  Pontiff,  who  in 
joining  his  forces  with  his,  could  resist  Boniface,  or  at 
least  intimidate  him  to  their  own  advantage.  Hence 
Philip  of  France  and  Albert  agreed  in  their  way  of  think- 
ing; and  those  rights  which  could  not  be  settled  by  the 
force  of  arms  between  Philip  and  Alphonsus,  they  decided 
by  friendly  treaties  and  ties  of  marriage.  The  two  princes 
met  in  December  of  that  year  at  Vancouleurs  in  Lorraine, 
and  the  former  friendly  relations  were  restored  which 
once  existed  between  Germany  and  France,  and  which 
were  disturbed  by  the  rights  which  Adolph  claimed  over 
the  kingdom  of  Aries.  They  were  willing  to  come  to  an 
agreement  the  reason  for  which  was  not  difficult  to  find. 
Albert  ceded  to  France  the  kingdom  of  Aries,  and  France 
surrendered  her  rights  over  Lorraine  and  Alsace.  They 
defined  the  boundaries  of  the  two  kingdoms;  and  by  oath 
they  both  bound  themselves  to  defend  each  other  in  pre- 
serving their  respective  rights;  and  in  order  to  seal  this 
alliance  by  some  stronger  argument,  it  was  agreed  that 
Rudolph,  Duke  of  Austria,  son  of  Albert  should  marry 
Blanche,  the  sister  of  Philip.68  Philip  and  Albert  con- 
cluded these  holy  peaceful  relations  with  their  minds  in- 
tent on  Boniface  as  if  to  call  forth  respect  from  him  by 
that  show  of  strength  they  presented  in  that  alliance,  the 
one  entreating  him  to  make  legitimate  the  crown  stolen 
from  the  murdered  Adolph,  and  the  other  claiming  the 
right  to  pillage  the  churches  and  so  act  as  King  and  Pope 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  In  fact  Albert,  whilst  Blanche 
was  being  escorted  to  Austria  for  the  marriage  with  his 
son,  so  certain  was  he  that  these  ties  of  relationship  would 

48  Spondani,  year  1299,  torn.  I,  page  327. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  245 

move  Boniface,  that  he  sent  another  message  entreating 
him  to  confirm  him  as  King  of  the  Romans.  But  Boniface 
would  not  yield  to  the  murderer  of  Adolph,  nor  did  he 
allow  himself  to  be  intimidated  by  the  Franco-German 
alliance.  Moreover  he  gave  such  a  peremptory  refusal, 
as  to  furnish  occasion  to  a  certain  Ghibelline  writer  to 
relate,  that  having  received  the  messengers  of  Albert 
seated  on  a  throne  with  a  crown  on  his  head  and  a  sword 
at  his  side,  with  the  ostentation  of  king  he  said :  "  It  is  I, 
I,  who  am  Caesar,  it  is  I  who  am  the  Emperor."  69  How- 
ever since  Albert  did  not  ask  to  validate  a  false  right, 
he  was  able  finally  to  arrive  at  the  fulfilment  of  his  de- 
sires, because  rights  are  engendered  by  deeds;  but  Philip 
never,  because  injustice  can  never  be  sanctified  into  a 
right. 

But  in  the  meantime  affairs  in  Sicily  did  not  seem  to 
take  so  favorable  turn  as  to  leave  the  mind  of  Boniface 
free  to  think  of  Jerusalem.  After  the  defection  of  Roger 
of  Loria,  Frederick  far  from  fearing  the  great  prepara- 
tion made  in  Rome  against  him,  dared  himself  and  incited 
others  to  resist,  no  matter  what  his  fate  might  be.  As 
long  as  the  Sicilians  were  faithful,  he  desired  to  be  king 
and  king  of  Sicily.  We  cannot  understand  how  Boniface 
with  his  penetration,  with  his  knowledge  and  practical 
judgment  of  men,  did  not  see  so  far  into  the  mind  of 
James  of  Aragon  as  to  notice  that  he  showed  himself 
most  devoted  to  Rome,  and  most  ready  to  wage  war 
against  his  brother,  while  the  papal  favors  were  falling 
about  him,  while  he  was  collecting  tithes  from  the  churches, 
and  the  crown  of  Sardinia  was  on  his  head,  but  in  the 
depth  of  his  heart  he  still  nourished  bitterness  against 
Rome  because  of  her  efforts  to  drive  the  Aragon  family 
out  of  Sicily.  Gold  and  Sardinia  were  things  of  the 
present,  services  to  be  rendered  were  those  of  the  future. 
The  selection  of  James  for  the  conquest  of  Sicily  did  not 
help  the  undertaking.  Of  James'  dispositions  and  of  the 
impropriety  of  the  means  Boniface  afterward  was  con- 
vinced, but  too  late. 

Everything  was  prepared  for  the  war  in  such  a  manner 
that  there  seemed  to  be  no  uncertainty  of  the  victory. 
The  Aragonese  fleet  of  forty  galleys  in  union  with  that 

*  Benven.  da  Im.  Cronic. — Comment,  on  the  Dirina  Commedia. 


24(5  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

of  Charles  King  of  Naples  was  large  and  very  well 
manned.  That  eminent  warrior  Roger  of  Loria  com- 
manded it,  who  to  skill  in  military  affairs  added  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  sea  and  the  Sicilian  coasts,  where  the  war  was 
to  be  waged.  James  therefore  set  sail  with  his  fleet;  he 
landed  on  the  Roman  shores  and  went  to  interview  Boni- 
face. In  the  meantime  Frederick  was  not  unprepared, 
being  aided  wonderfully  by  the  fiery  Sicilians.  He  placed 
on  the  sea  sixty-four  galleys,  manned  by  the  choicest 
sailors,  experienced  in  naval  battles.  He  chose  as  Ad- 
miral, a  brave  Genoese,  Andrew  Doria.  So  much  did 
their  courage  increase  in  the  face  of  danger  that  he  was 
impatient  of  delays,  and  wished  to  encounter  the  enemy. 
He  sailed  as  far  as  Naples  to  meet  it.  The  Sicilian  fleet 
sailed  along  the  Neapolitan  coast,  and  was  ploughing  the 
waves  with  colors  displayed,  as  if  defying  to  battle,  hop- 
ing thereby  to  entice  Charles  to  some  feat  of  arms,  or  to 
vanquish  him  before  he  was  joined  by  James.  But  James 
sent  word  to  Frederick  saying  that  he  should  not  try  the 
fortune  of  a  battle  outside  of  his  own  kingdom  and 
should  withdraw.70  This  does  not  appear  to  be  the  mes- 
sage of  an  enemy,  but  of  a  friend,  and  we  believe  the  Ara- 
gonese  king  endured  more  fatigue  in  pretending  war  than 
sustaining  it.  However,  Frederick  having  retired  from 
Naples,  James  conducted  to  that  city  his  fleet,  which  to- 
gether with  the  Neapolitan  numbered  more  than  eighty 
galleys.  With  Charles  of  Naples  and  the  Cardinal  Legate 
on  board,  he  directed  his  course  towards  Sicily  in  August 
of  1298.  Roger  of  Loria  opened  the  way  for  them.  He 
pointed  out  to  them  suitable  positions,  where  perhaps  still 
linger  the  memory  of  his  power  and  where  were  his 
friends  and  vassals.  So  the  ecclesiastical  militia  sailing 
along  the  east  coast  of  Sicily,  the  city  of  Patti  and  some 
other  fortresses  soon  capitulated.  The  name  alone  of 
Loria  was  more  effective  than  arms.  The  fleet  set  out  for 
Syracuse  and  laid  siege  to  it ;  but  the  city  stubbornly  held 
out.  In  the  meantime  the  provinces  that  surrendered 
either  were  forced,  or  by  their  own  will  returned  to  the 
rule  of  Frederick,  and  the  pontifical  army  between  disease 
and  the  sword  was  greatly  decimated,  for  Frederick  tak- 
ing refuge  in  Catania  sent  his  light  soldiers  in  small  bands 

70Fazzelli,  Book  IX,  cap.  3. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  247 

to  harass  the  enemy  often  by  furious  and  deadly  skir- 
mishes. In  these  encounters  the  brave  Blasco  of  Alagone 
at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Catalonians  was  ambushed,  and 
made  prisoner  with  them ;  and  also  John  of  Loria,  nephew 
of  Roger,  suffered  a  defeat  and  was  made  a  prisoner,  on 
his  return  from  provisioning  Patti  with  a  few  ships.71 
Avoiding  therefore  great  battles,  and  thus  harassing  the 
hostile  army,  Frederick  obliged  James  to  return  without 
advantage  to  Naples,  but  before  his  departure  James 
asked  his  brother  for  some  ships  which  the  people  of  Mes- 
sina had  prepared  for  John  of  Loria  and  promised  him 
peace,  but  Frederick's  reply  was  to  offer  battle  which 
James  prudently  refused. 

It  was  now  the  month  of  March  in  the  year  1299,  and 
Boniface  saw  that  little  or  nothing  had  been  gained;  yet 
he  did  not  lose  confidence  in  James.  He  imagined  per- 
haps the  cause  of  his  return  was  the  threats  made  on  the 
frontier  of  his  kingdom,  for  which  reason  he  suddenly 
left  Naples  for  Spain.  So  in  order  to  renew  the  war  he 
allowed  him  to  collect  tithes  from  the  churches  of  Valen- 
cia, Catalonia,  Aragon  and  the  Balearic  Islands.72  He 
took  him  under  his  protection,  and  restrained  other 
princes  from  molesting  him  during  the  Sicilian  war.73 
And  that  the  soldiers  might  know  that  the  war  was  to  be 
waged  for  the  common  Mother  the  Church,  he  granted 
them  holy  indulgences.74  He  afterwards  deputed  William, 
Archbishop  elect  of  Salerno  to  see  that  confessors  were 
not  wanting  in  the  fleet,  who  would  immediately  absolve 
from  censures  those  of  the  enemy,  who  would  pass  over 
to  the  party  of  the  Church,  and  who  would  oblige  them 
by  oath  to  remain  faithful.75 

The  tithes  were  a  good  gift  but  for  the  present  war 
ready  money  was  necessary.  James  did  not  have  it  and 
Boniface  was  slow  to  give  it  to  a  servant  whose  honesty  of 
purpose  he  began  to  suspect.  The  Aragonese  Prince  tried 
to  get  it  from  the  Neapolitans.  Having  returned  from 
Spain,  he  joined  his  fleet  to  that  of  the  Neapolitans,  and 
on  the  24th  of  June  he  set  sail  steering  his  course  for 
Sicily  with  the  intention  of  trying  again  the  fortunes  of 

n  Special.  Book  4,  c.  6,  7.  n  Book  5,  Epist.  208.  Ray.  I. 

73  Ibidem,  Epistle  206,  207,  Raynaldus  2.  n  Ibidem,  Epistle  193, 

Raynaldus  1.  n  Ib.  Ep.  193,  Raynaldus  2. 


248  HISTORY   OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

war.  The  famous  Roger  of  Loria  commanded  the  fleet, 
and  the  presence  of  James,  Robert  Duke  of  Calabria,  and 
Philip  Prince  of  Taranto  inspired  them  with  courage. 
Frederick  set  out  with  forty  galleys  from  the  harbor  of 
Messina  with  men  eager  for  the  fray,  and  led  by  most 
skilful  captains  and  many  Sicilian  barons.  He  wished  to 
engage  the  enemy,  to  prevent  it  from  reaching  the  Sicil- 
ian coasts,  and  to  vanquish  it  in  open  battle.  But  either 
because  the  winds  were  unfavorable,  or  the  Catalonian 
pilots  were  more  skilful  and  their  fleet  was  handled  better, 
the  latter  arrived  at  Sicily  near  the  coast  of  St.  Mark,  and 
immediately  they  formed  in  line  turning  their  prows  to- 
wards the  Sicilian  fleet,  which  ardently  desiring  battle, 
sailed  directly  to  meet  it.  We  shall  not  relate  how  furi- 
ously the  two  fleets  fought,  since  Nicholas  Speciale  had 
written  at  length  about  it;78  we  shall  only  say  that  the 
victory  won  by  James  over  his  brother  was  entirely  of  the 
work  of  the  invincible  Roger  of  Loria,  who  to  the  hate  he 
had  for  Frederick  added  an  incredible  thirst  for  revenge 
on  account  of  the  death  of  the  incautious  John  of  Loria, 
his  nephew,  whom  the  Sicilians  had  imprisoned,  as  we  re- 
lated. He  planned  the  battle;  he  ordered  the  sudden 
attack  from  behind  upon  the  assailants,  and  inspired  the 
minds  of  all  with  his  own  implacable  hate.  Eighteen  gal- 
leys were  surrendered  to  James,  and  six  thousand  Sicil- 
ians perished  in  those  disastrous  waters,  among  whom 
were  many  barons,  who  by  the  authority  of  their  name, 
and  the  number  of  their  followers,  had  up  to  that  time 
confirmed  Sicily  in  its  determination  of  not  being  sub- 
ject to  the  Papal  will.77  Crushed  and  blood-stained  the 
Sicilians  retreated,  and  with  them  Frederick,  who  in  that 
battle  mingled  with  the  soldiers  with  so  much  bravery, 
that  he  seemed  a  common  soldier  more  than  a  king.  Vil- 
lani,  who  lived  at  that  time,  declared  afterwards  that 
through  the  artifice  of  James  with  his  Catalonians,  Fred- 
erick was  allowed  to  escape,  as  it  was  publicly  reported.78 

w  Book  IV,  Chap.  14.  "  Speciale.  Book  IV  c.  14. 

n  Here  are  his  own  words :  "  It  is  said  with  reason,  that  if  King  James 
had  willed  it,  Don  Frederick,  his  brother,  would  have  remained  a  prisoner 
after  his  galley  fell  under  the  power  of  the  prince  of  Aragon,  and  that  the 
war  in  Sicily  would  have  ended.  But,  whether  such  was  the  will  of  James, 
or  such  was  the  will  of  the  Catalonian  nation,  they  allowed  him  to  es- 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII.        249 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  naval  battle  of  Cape  Orlando, 
that  if  James  had  passed  through  Sicily,  without  giving 
time  to  the  enemy  to  recover  their  spirits,  it  is  most  cer- 
tain that  the  war  would  have  been  terminated  by  the 
conquest  of  the  island.  But,  contrary  to  the  expectations 
of  the  two  sons  of  Charles,  and  of  Roger  of  Loria,  having 
exchanged  prisoners  with  Frederick,  he  allowed  Robert  of 
Calabria  and  Roger  to  continue  the  war.  It  is  true  that 
if  the  power  of  his  brother  was  broken,  he  himself  did 
not  come  out  of  that  terrible  battle  unscathed,  and  his 
fleet  was  badly  injured,  but  nevertheless  he  was  victorious, 
and  Roger  was  with  him;  and  then  the  awful  defeat  and 
the  loss  of  those  valient  barons  made  the  Sicilians  more 
docile,  as  the  desire  for  revenge  had  not  as  yet  succeeded 
to  the  distress  of  adversity.  He  set  sail  for  Salerno  where 
he  expected  to  meet  the  afflicted  Constance  his  mother, 
who  in  those  days  was  the  most  miserable  of  mothers,  as 
she  perhaps  had  never  taken  her  eyes  off  those  waves, 
which  might  have  been  reddened  by  the  blood  of  one  of 
her  sons.  He  then  sailed  for  Naples,  and  saw  Charles 
who  did  not  accord  him  the  best  welcome.79  Even  on  him 
this  sudden  departure  made  a  bad  impression.  So  James 
returned  to  Catalonia  in  bad  repute  with  the  Angevines, 
and  detested  by  the  Sicilians,  who  however,  if  he  wished, 
he  could  have  reduced  to  the  direst  straits.80 

Boniface  was  very  displeased  over  the  return  of  James 
to  Catalonia;  on  considering  that  this  prince  had  not 
arrested  Frederick  in  the  battle  of  Cape  Orlando,  and  had 
abandoned  the  affair  at  the  very  moment  in  which  he 
could  have  gathered  the  fruits  of  a  signal  victory,  he 
clearly  perceived  that  the  reasons  of  his  departure  were 
pretended,  and  that  he  acted  in  bad  faith.81  This  motive, 
added  to  a  desire  of  not  interrupting  the  course  of  pros- 
perity in  Sicily,  fixed  his  attention  more  strongly  on  that 
country;  but  he  had  still  more  at  heart  not  to  lose  that 
which  he  had  reconquered,  and  not  to  expose  to  danger 
the  army  which  remained  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Charles. 

cape."  Book  8,  chap.  29. — Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  also  a  cotemporary  writer 
affirms  the  same,  Hist.  Eccl. 

TOSpeciale.  Book  IV,  chap.  15 "a  quo  non  multum 

diligenter  acceptusest." 

••  Speciale,  Book  IV,  cap.  15.  S1  Mariani,  Book  IX,  chap.  3. 


250  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

James  being  at  a  distance,  and  probably  caring  very  little 
for  the  enterprise  which  had  been  intrusted  to  him,  Boni- 
face trembled ;  for  if  the  fleet  would  encounter  a  defeat,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  repair  it.  He  restrained  Charles  and 
exhorted  him  not  to  trust  to  the  chances  of  fortune.  But 
this  prince  who  had  drafted  other  soldiers  could  not  re- 
strain himself,  especially  since  the  good  news  arrived  of 
the  deeds  of  Robert,  his  son,  and  Roger  of  Loria,  who  were 
making  many  fine  conquests  in  Sicily,  and  among  them  of 
Catania  itself.  To  his  son  Philip  prince  of  Taranto,  im- 
patient and  desirous  of  engaging  in  some  signal  enter- 
prise, he  intrusted  forty  galleys  and  a  goodly  number  of 
soldiers.  The  commander  was  the  valiant  captain  Peter 
Salvacossa,  who  had  deserted  the  party  of  Frederick.82 
From  the  distance  Boniface  protested  against  Philip  ven- 
turing a  battle  with  that  force.  He  wrote  to  Charles  to 
restrain  him  and  to  prevent  him  from  going,  or  if  having 
gone  to  Sicily  to  recall  him.  He  would  also  have  him  re- 
member his  oath  of  fealty  to  the  Roman  See,  and  know 
that  he  would  be  visited  with  censures  in  order  to  restrain 
him  and  his  son  from  the  foolish  enterprise;  and  that  he 
had  intrusted  to  the  Archbishop  of  Naples  the  infliction 
of  the  censures.82  The  Pope  wrote  these  things  on  the 
2nd  of  November,  and  in  the  beginning  of  this  month  the 
young  prince  had  set  sail  for  Sicily,  steering  towards  the 
promontory  Lilibeo,  where  he  landed  with  his  army.  The 
entreaties  and  commands  of  Boniface  were,  as  it  were,  a 
certain  presentiment  of  disaster.  For  a  month  had  hardly 
passed  since  his  departure  from  Naples,  when,  on  the 
plains  of  Falconaria  between  Marsala  and  Trapani,  Philip 
measured  his  strength  with  Frederick,  by  whom  he  was 
defeated  and  made  prisoner.  Thus  was  lost  the  fruit  of 
the  victory  of  Cape  Orlando,  and  those  enmities  and  the 
war  were  prolonged  without  any  benefit  to  either  party. 
Then  Boniface  saw  wither  all  the  hopes  he  had  placed  in 
James  which  afterwards  he  sought  to  revive  in  Charles 
of  Valois.  Had  he  from  the  beginning  entrusted  to  this 
prince  the  rights  of  the  Church  over  Sicily,  affairs  might 
perhaps  have  taken  a  more  prosperous  turn,  and  the  war 
might  have  been  waged  more  honestly  by  a  Frenchman, 
who  was  not  a  brother  of  Frederick. 

88  Book  V,  Epistle  591,  Raynaldus  4. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  251 

Now  we  can  not  dismiss  the  account  of  the  Sicilian  war 
without  mentioning  a  most  atrocious  fact,  which  as  an 
instance  of  the  ferocity  of  those  times,  also  makes  known 
to  us  the  vigilance  of  Boniface,  and  his  immediate  remedy 
for  every  disorder  that  offended  the  sacred  laws  of  nature. 
Among  the  followers  of  Frederick,  there  was  a  certain 
Montanero  Sosa,  who  not  by  the  art  of  war,  but  by  per- 
fidy had  put  to  death  a  handful  of  Frenchmen  and  being 
possessed  by  the  demon  of  avarice  conceived  a  wicked 
plan  for  making  money.  He  set  about  to  boil  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  slain,  in  order  to  remove  the  flesh  from  the 
bones,  which  he  afterwards  sold  at  a  high  price  to  the 
relatives  of  the  dead,  that  they  might  carry  them  for 
burial  to  their  own  country.  And  thus,  says  Fazzelli,  he 
sold  the  dead  whom  in  life  he  had  betrayed.83  It  is  true 
this  custom  originated  among  the  Crusaders,  who  in  order 
not  to  leave  in  the  land  of  the  infidels  the  bodies  of  the 
men  either  dear  to  them,  or  illustrious  by  birth,  removed 
the  flesh  from  the  bones,  that  they  might  bear  them  away 
with  them,  as  we  read  was  done  with  the  body  of  St. 
Louis  of  France.  This  treatment  of  human  bodies  even  if 
they  were  corpses,  was  a  great  irreverence  shown  to  the 
divine  handiwork.  And  yet  it  was  often  made  use  of  by 
those  in  high  position,  either  to  bury  their  dead  relations 
in  grand  sepulchres  at  home  or  with  the  pious  desire  of 
securing  the  bones  of  their  relatives  who  died  in  far  off 
countries,  they  disembowelled  them,  and  boiled  them  in 
loathsome  boilers.  Boniface  published  a  Constitution,84 
in  which  detesting  the  horrible  practise,  he  threatened 
with  solemn  excommunication  all  those  guilty  of  the  bar- 
barous practise  of  removing  the  flesh  from  human  bones. 

Although,  as  we  have  related,  Boniface  did  not  lose 
sight  of  those  foul  heretics,  the  Fraticelli,  and  quickly 
brought  them  to  trial,  yet  they  did  not  stop  their  evil  prac- 
tises, and  in  the  false  garb  of  sheep  they  were  worse  than 
ravenous  wolves.  Miserable  religious  they  were,  expelled 
from  monasteries  and  fanatical  founders  of  new  orders 
and  reforms.  They  fixed  their  abodes  in  the  Abruzzi 
mountains  and  in  the  Marches  of  Ancona.  As  we  have 
previously  stated,  these  poisonous  shoots  had  sprung  from 
some  poisonous  root.  Censures  had  little  or  no  effect 

**  Fazz.  ib.  **  Extrav.  Commun.  Tit.    De  sepultura,  cap.  I. 


252  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

upon  them,  because  they  did  not  care  to  know  or  have 
any  connection  with  the  Pope  or  Church.  Strict  observers 
of  the  rule  of  St.  Francis,  this  was  of  more  value  in  their 
eyes  than  the  Gospel,  or  anything  else.  At  the  solicita- 
tion of  Boniface,  Friar  Matthew  of  Chieti,  Inquisitor,  pur- 
sued them.85  That  is  to  say  that  the  pursuit  was  relent- 
less. They  then  left  the  continent,  and  fled  to  Sicily;  and 
there  surfeited  with  food,  and  heated  by  much  wine,  they 
formed  a  procession  of  real  bacchanals,  and  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  certain  reed  trumpets,  they  sang  a  hymn 
which  began  thus:  "Rejoice,  O  Harlot  Church/'  meaning 
thereby  to  slander  the  Roman  Church.  And  afterwards 
they  broke  these  instruments  and  a  cup  to  signify  by  this 
the  end  of  the  Church.  They  passed  over  to  Greece,  where 
they  spread  their  bad  doctrines;  but  Boniface  preceded 
them  by  a  letter  to  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  and 
the  Archbishops  of  Patrasso  and  Athens,  in  order  that 
they  would  suppress  them.  They  took  refuge  in  Achaia. 
This  vile  troupe  of  heretics  was  certainly  not  to  be  treated 
with  indifference  nor  despised,  because  the  people,  de- 
ceived by  those  appearances  of  rigid  poverty,  began  to 
consider  them  as  saints  and  to  venerate  their  relics.  Ber- 
nard Guido,86  relates  that  the  inquisitors  of  heresy  were 
obliged  to  disinter  the  ashes  of  Herman,  a  heretic  of  Fer- 
rara,  and  scatter  them  to  the  winds;  and  demolish  an 
altar  which  the  people  had  erected  to  him  as  a  saint.  The 
same  was  done  with  the  remains  of  a  low-bred  English 
woman  who  declared  herself  the  Holy  Ghost  become  in- 
carnate for  the  salvation  of  her  sex.87  Now  if  these  stupid 
doctrines  could  not  prevail  so  much  as  to  deceive  cultured 
minds,  they  however  were  among  the  people  as  a  ridicu- 
lous expression  of  certain  theories  which  sprang  up  in 
minds,  not  altogether  uncouth  nor  uncultured,  and  which 
could  menace  the  nobler  parts  of  the  Church.  In  this 
very  year  John  Oliva  died,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  who 
in  his  commentaries  on  the  book  of  the  Apocalypse  of  St. 
John,  after  giving  utterance  to  many  extravagances  con- 
cerning St.  Francis,  his  rule,  his  strict  poverty  and  so 
forth,  bitterly  assailed  the  Church  and  Pope,  calling  the 
former  a  New  Synagogue,  Babylon,  a  harlot,  and  already 

*  Reg.  Vatic,  epi.  170  Ray.  55.  *  Chron.  Rom.  Pont. 

"Annal.  Domin.  Colmar.  year  1301. — 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  253 

dying;  and  the  latter  Antichrist  in  flesh.88  Now  these 
doctrines  taught  by  a  man  considered  a  saint  outwardly, 
and  learned  as  Oliva  was,  could  be  agreeably  embraced 
by  those,  who,  impatient  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church, 
were  restless  under  the  lash  of  Boniface.  This  is  the 
reason  why  Boniface  was  vigilant,  and  the  inquisitors 
active. 

As  we  have  said,  the  Fraticelli  were  a  most  wicked  off- 
spring of  the  excellent  Franciscan  Order,  and  hence  Boni- 
face pursued  them  relentlessly;  so  it  is  well  to  remark 
that  this  Order  had  no  greater  admirer  and  protector 
than  this  Pontiff.  He  removed  them  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  bishops ;  he  conceded  to  their  rectors  full  power  of 
judgment  over  their  subjects  according  to  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  order  without  regard  to  the  general  prescrip- 
tion of  the  law;  and  confirmed  all  their  privileges  in  a 
Bull  entitled  "Mare  Magnum."*9  He  often  employed 
Franciscans  in  legations  and  in  the  government  of 
churches.  Friar  Porchetto  Spinola  was  placed  by  him 
over  the  Archiepiscopal  see  of  Genoa ;  Friar  Alamanno  of 
Bagnorea  over  the  Archiepiscopal  see  of  Abora  in  Sar- 
dinia, who  also  had  the  privilege  of  exercising  episcopal 
jurisdiction  in  Rome  as  Vicar  of  the  Pope,  even  while  he 
himself  was  present;  Friar  John  of  Lamois,  created  Peni- 
tentiary of  the  Pope,  and  sent  on  many  embassies,  was 
appointed  to  the  see  of  Rennes,  and  afterwards  translated 
to  that  of  Lisieux.90  These  favors  were  granted  in  return 
for  the  great  services  given  the  Church  by  these  friars. 
The  character  of  the  Order  was  such  that  it  corresponded 
well  to  that  of  the  times;  and  many  men  of  rare  learning 
became  members  of  it.  And  since  it  was  still  in  its  first 
fervor,  the  Mendicants,  and  also  the  Dominicans  were  ever 
most  ready  for  all  those  works  in  the  performance  of 
which  there  was  needed  a  perfect  abnegation  of  human 
nature.  Therefore  poor,  penitent,  zealous  and  diligent  in 
preaching  and  in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments, 
they  alone  confronted  the  dangers  in  the  far  off  missions 
of  the  infidel  countries. 

But  the  justice  of  the  recompense  did  not  seem  clear  to 

""Constit.  66,  John  XXII,  in  Extra v.  Communiter  nonnullos. 
*  Wadding.  Annal.  Minorum  Tom.  V,  page  340. 
"Wadding.  Idem,  years  1298,  1299. 


254  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  bishops  and  pastors.  They  saw  on  a  par  with  them 
certain  companions  who  up  to  that  time  were  unknown  in 
the  exercise  of  their  ministry.  The  Friars  were  bearers 
of  Papal  ordinances,  which  rendered  them  no  longer  sub- 
jects of  the  bishops  but  their  helpers,  and  they  lessened 
the  ministry  of  the  pastors.  The  decrees  were  just,  be- 
cause the  diocesan  clergy  in  those  times  were  in  need  of 
help  and  co-laborers,  and  the  Pontiffs  of  ministers  freer 
and  more  active  in  the  application  of  their  power ;  but  the 
bishops  complained,  because  they  did  not  wish  to  have  the 
Friars  Minor  on  a  par  with  them,  but  under  them.  We 
shall  not  speak  of  the  dissensions  which  this  state  of 
affairs  engendered;  but  only  of  the  provisions  made  by 
Boniface  in  favor  of  the  Friars.  In  the  year  1299  he  pub- 
lished the  Bull  "  Super  Cathedram,'' 91  in  which  he  gave 
full  permission  to  all  the  Mendicant  Friars  to  preach  in 
the  Church  or  on  the  square,  provided  at  the  same  mo- 
ment the  Bishop  did  not  preach  there,  or  they  did  not 
preach  in  his  presence.  When  invited  and  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  pastor  they  could  preach  in  the  parish 
churches;  only  the  permission  of  the  bishops  was  to  be 
asked  for  the  friars  selected  by  their  superiors  to  admin- 
ister the  sacrament  of  penance;  if  the  bishop  should  re- 
fuse, they  could  do  so  by  concession  of  the  Pope ;  the  friars 
could  bury  the  dead  in  their  churches,  reserving  however 
for  the  pastors  the  fourth  part  of  the  money  they  received 
for  the  obsequies.  Finally  he  exhorted  the  bishops  and 
pastors  not  to  molest  the  friars,  but  to  favor  them,  and 
assist  them  with  alms.  Little  good  resulted  from  these 
provisions;  the  quarrels  did  not  end,  but  rather  increased 
in  intensity. 

The  times  were  hard  and  embarrassing,  and  a  Pope  who 
did  not  wish  to  close  his  eyes  to  the  course  events  were 
taking  needed  to  be  a  man  of  a  strong  and  resolute  nature. 
We  have  already  seen  how  Boniface,  after  declaring  war 
against  the  Colonnas,  had  sent  Cardinal  Aquasparta  to 
start  a  crusade  against  them,  promising  the  same  indul- 
gences that  were  granted  to  the  crusaders  in  the  Holy 
Land.  The  report  of  the  rebellion  of  the  Colonnas,  and 
the  help  which  Boniface  stood  in  need  of  to  repress  them 
agitated  the  people  greatly;  and  they  answered  the  appeal 

"Extrav.  communiter. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE    VIII.  255 

beyond  expectations,  they  rushed  to  arms,  and  took  the 
cross.  Even  the  Orsinis  the  enemies  of  the  Colonnas  agi- 
tated the  undertaking  of  this  war.92  Florence  had  sent  to 
the  aid  of  the  Pope  two  hundred  cavalry  and  six  hundred 
infantry  under  the  leadership  of  Cianco  of  Montespertoli 
and  Davizo  of  Galiano;  (Villani  reports  only  six  hundred 
in  all,  arches  and  spearsmen,)  also  two  hundred  cavalry 
from  Orvieto,93  and  other  soldiers  from  Matelica94  under 
the  banner  of  the  municipality  of  Florence.95  If  we  may 
believe  the  chronicles  of  Paulinus  of  Piero,  even  the  women 
were  filled  with  the  desire  of  aiding  the  Pontiff,  and  as 
they  were  unable  and  unfit,  by  reason  of  their  sex,  to  go 
to  war,  they  hired  soldiers  to  fight  in  their  stead.  In  a 
short  time  a  mighty  army  was  assembled  under  the  chief 
command  of  Landolph  Colonna,  which  sufficed  and  ex- 
ceeded the  expectations  of  the  Pope.  So  with  the  blessing 
of  the  Pope,  and  endowed  with  bountiful  indulgences,  the 
crusaders  advanced  to  the  attack  of  Nej5i,  a  strongly  forti- 
fied town  of  the  Colonnas,  wrhich  they  brought  to  terms, 
but  with  a  great  loss  of  soldiers  occasioned  by  the  poison- 
ous atmosphere.96  Soon  other  castles  and  towns  surren- 
dered to  them.  The  stronghold  of  Palestrina  alone  re- 
mained, which,  because  of  its  difficulty  of  approach  and 
strong  fortifications,  was  rendered  difficult  of  capture. 
Moreover  the  Colonna  princes  were  there,  Agapito,  Sciarra, 
and  the  two  Cardinals,  who  saw  within  these  walls  pushed 
to  their  last  extremity,  their  own  fortune  and  a  people 
strongly  devoted  to  the  Colonnas.  And  right  here  Fer- 
rettus  of  Vicenza,97  and  Pipino,98  strong  Ghibellines,  in- 
trude themselves  and  relate  that  Boniface,  as  it  were,  de- 
spairing of  capturing  Palestrina  by  force,  thought  of 
Guy  of  Montefeltro,  now  a  friar,  who  in  old  age  was  liv- 
ing in  a  monastery  at  Ancona  attending  to  the  things  of 
God  and  his  soul.  He  sent  a  messenger  to  him  imploring 
him,  a  man  skilled  in  war,  to  come  and  direct  the  siege. 
They  declared  that  he  refused  to  come,  because  he  had  a 

w  Villani,  Book  8,  chap.  21.  MManente,  History  of  Orvieto. 

94  Petr.  Mem,  Proenest.  Page  158. 

"Tosa  Cronac.  an.  1297,  add.  ad.  S.  R.  T,  torn.  2,  p.  53. 

"Tosa  Cronac.  an.  1297,  add.  ad.  S.  R.  T,  torn.  2,  p.  53. 

"Chronicles  of  Tuscany  year  1297. 

88  Chronicles  Tom.  1,  add.  ad  S.  R.  I.  page  53. 


256  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

repugnance  for  such  a  cruel  occupation,  but  that  after- 
wards he  yielded,  and  having  examined  the  strong  city- 
wall,  he  told  the  Pope  that  it  could  not  be  taken  by  force, 
as  it  seemed  impregnable.  So  much  for  these  two  writers. 
They  were  followed  by  Dante  in  his  verses,  and  more 
openly  by  his  commentator  Benvenuto  of  Imola,  who  de- 
clared that  Guy  had  indicated  a  means  for  accomplishing 
the  purpose,  but  would  not  adopt  it  because  it  was  sinful ; 
that  Boniface  answered  him  and  told  him  to  have  no  fear 
of  sin,  as  he  himself  would  absolve  him  from  it  before  it 
was  done;  and  that  the  plan  was  to  draw  the  Colonnas 
from  their  stronghold  by  fair  promises,  then  to  break 
them,  to  destroy  them,  violating  sacred  oaths.  Such  is 
the  poetical  fiction  of  Dante,  and  after  him  Ferrettus  of 
Vicenza  and  Pipino  as  historians  narrate  this  story." 
We  beg  the  reader  not  to  neglect  to  read  this  note. 

But  this  account  cannot  be  followed,  because  they  alone 
narrate  it,  and  do  not  agree  in  their  recitals,  and  are  only 
in  faithful  accord  with  that  which  afterward  the  Colonnas 
spread  of  the  treachery  of  Boniface. 

It  is  true  that  the  Papal  soldiers  labored  much  and  for  a 
long  time  around  Palestrina,  with  a  great  shedding  of 
human  blood;  but  finally  in  September  the  four  Colonnas 
came  out  and  surrendered  the  city  to  the  Papal  com- 
mander, whether  on  terms  or  at  the  discretion  of  the  con- 
queror the  ancient  writers  do  not  say.  But  it  is  evident 
from  that  which  followed.  For  leaving  the  city  in  the 
hands  of  the  Papal  general  they  repaired  to  Rieti,  where 
the  Pope  was  dwelling,  to  implore  forgiveness  from  him.100 
Having  reached  the  gates  of  the  city,  they  dismounted 
from  their  horses,  and  went  on  foot  clothed  in  garments 
of  mourning  and  with  halters  about  their  necks 101  to 
throw  themselves  at  the  feet  of  Boniface.  The  Pope  was 
seated  on  his  throne  with  a  crown  on  his  head,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  Cardinals  and  Prelates  of  the  Curia  to- 
gether with  a  great  multitude  of  laymen,  among  whom 
was  Charles,  Prince  of  Taranto.  He  manifested  no  harsh- 
ness, but  received  them  graciously  and  kindly,  to  use  the 

M2  B.  in  relation  to  this  at  end  of  book. 

100Villani  Book  8,  cap.  28, — Paolo  di  Piero,  Chronicle  S.  R.  I.,  torn.  1, 
p.  53.  Add.  ad  S.  R.  I.  1<aPipi.  Chron.  S.  R.  I. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  257 

words  of  Piero.102  In  fact  they  were  so  humble  in  word 
and  action  that  they  excited  pity;  with  tears  in  their  eyes 
they  kissed  the  feet  of  the  offended  Pontiff,  acknowledg- 
ing themselves  guilty  and  unworthy  of  forgiveness.  One 
of  them,  to  move  the  heart  of  Boniface,  made  use  of  the 
words  of  the  Gospel :  "  O,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
"  Heaven  and  before  thee,  and  I  am  not  worthy  to  be  called 
"  thy  son."  And  afterwards :  "  Thou  hast  punished  us 
"  for  our  wickedness."  If  this  is  to  surrender  on  terms, 
we  would  like  to  know  what  it  is  to  surrender  uncondition- 
ally. Boniface  restored  them  to  favor,  and  absolved  them 
from  all  censures.  But  his  pardon  did  not  extend  so  far 
as  to  restore  them  to  their  former  state,  nor  to  leave  un- 
punished the  rebellious  Palestrina,  which  had  so  fiercely 
resisted  the  Papal  forces.  He  ordered  Theodore  Raniero, 
Bishop  of  Orvieto,  his  chamberlain,103  to  raze  to  its  foun- 
dation the  unfortunate  Palestrina,  and  when  levelled  to 
the  ground,  to  pass  the  plow  over  it  and  sprinkle  the  fur- 
rows with  salt,  in  order  that  nothing  living  would  remain 
in  remembrance  of  it.  The  Church  of  St.  Agapitus  alone 
remained  standing.  A  like  severe  sentence  was  passed 
upon  the  people.  All  their  goods  and  fortunes  as  of  rebels 
and  schismatics  were  confiscated.  So,  deprived  of  their 
dwellings,  and  destitute  of  everything,  they  were  con- 
ducted by  the  Pope  to  found  and  dwell  in  another  city, 
which  was  called  Papale.  This  storm  also  struck  Jaco- 
pone,  who  also  had  been  rebellious,  and  had  aided  the 
schism.  He  was  cast  into  prison,  not  in  Palestrina,  as  it 
no  longer  existed,  but  in  a  certain  monastery.  And  there 
having  repented  of  the  consequent  schism  he  shed  tears, 
grieving  not  so  much  for  the  vexations  of  imprisonment, 
as  the  remorse  he  felt  in  having  incurred  the  Papal  cen- 
sures. These  lamentations  clothed  in  rude  verses  are 
found  among  his  poems.  Such  was  the  mournful  end  of 
most  ancient  Praeneste,  the  reason  of  which  whether  it 
was  the  inordinate  pride  of  its  nobles,  or  the  excessive 
judgment  of  the  Pontiff,  we  are  not  sure.  However  we 
must  not  forget  to  mention  that  in  July  of  the  next  year 
all  their  possessions  were  restored  to  the  citizens  of  the 
new  city  Papale,  to  be  enjoyed  as  fiefs,  and  be  allowed  to 

MLoc.  Citato  ut  supra.  1MUghell.  de  Epis.  Praen.,  n.  53. 


258 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


transmit  them  to  their  descendants.  And  in  the  course  of 
a  few  days  in  a  Bull  he  declared  them  free,  imposing  on 
them  the  annual  payment  of  twenty-five  livres  in  token  of 
the  restoration  of  their  liberty ;  and  he  gave  them  permis- 
sion to  draw  up  particular  statutes,  restraining  them  how- 
ever by  certain  laws  the  better  to  keep  them  in  subjec- 
tion.104 The  destruction  of  their  stronghold,  Palestrina, 
and  the  terrible  punishment  meted  out  to  John,  Lord  of 
Ceccano,  Annabeleschi,  an  enemy  of  Boniface  and  their 
ally,  astounded  the  Colonnas.  Whilst  the  war  was  going 
on  around  Palestrina,  John  had  gone  about  spreading 
rumors  against  the  Pope  in  Campania  and  the  maritime 
provinces.105  Having  recovered  from  the  humiliations 
into  which  they  had  fallen,  they  began  to  fear  that  the 
angry  Pontiff  after  the  absolution  from  censures  might 
subject  them  to  as  dire  a  fate  as  that  of  Palestrina.  So 
they  again  arose  in  rebellion,  but  being  defeated  by  the 
Pontiff,  they  fled  to  other  parts.  Stephano  went  to 
France,  and  Sciarra  followed  him,  after  having  suffered 
slavery  for  a  time  at  the  hands  of  corsairs,  who  captured 
him  in  the  waters  of  Marseilles,  according  to  Giovio. 
Philip  the  Fair  received  the  fugitive  Colonnas  in  defiance 
of  Boniface.  During  their  residence  in  France  they  nur- 
tured that  fire  of  revenge  in  their  breasts  which  after- 
wards burst  into  a  flame  in  Anagni. 

Another  religious  Order  arose  at  that  time,  and  was  ap- 
proved by  Pope  Boniface;  inasmuch  as  it  expresses  the 
character  of  the  age,  it  may  be  well  to  say  something  of 
its  history.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  body  of  St. 
Anthony  Abbot  was  brought  to  Vienne  in  Dauphiny  by  a 
nobleman  of  that  country  named  Joselin,  to  whom  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople  had  given  that  rich  present. 
An  excessive  devotion  to  the  saint  gave  him  rather  dis- 
honor than  reverence.  For  Joselin,  being  a  soldier,  think- 
ing of  a  place  where  the  sacred  relics  might  rest,  did  not 
wish  to  lose  the  benefits  which  the  possession  of  them 
brought  him.  Wherever  he  went  to  give  battle  he  carried 
the  body  of  St.  Anthony  along,  that  it  might  serve  as  his 
protector.  When  he  died,  he  left  it  as  an  inheritance  with 
other  things  to  a  certain  Guigo,  also  given  to  warlike  pur- 

106  Epistle  65,  Raynaldus,  year  1299  no.  9. 
104  Vide  Petrini  Mem.  Prenest. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  259 

suits,  and  the  pious  but  irreverent  translation  of  the  holy 
body  in  the  midst  of  battles  did  not  cease.  However,  Pope 
Urban  II  made  him  deposit  the  body  in  a  resting-place. 
It  was  placed  in  the  Church  of  La  Motte  St.  Diclier,  not 
far  from  Aries,  then  a  Benedictine  priory  belonging  to  the 
Abbey  of  Mont  Majour.  Around  this  priory  Guigo  began 
to  build,  at  the  expense  of  the  faithful  who  contributed 
bountifully,  a  church  and  hospital  which  was  served  by 
laymen  called  hospitallers.  Afterwards  it  was  given  to 
the  Benedictines  of  Mont  Majour,  and  thus  arose  the 
priory  of  St.  Anthony.106 

Now  it  happened  that  in  1089  a  pestilential  distemper 
broke  out,  which  like  a  fire  inflamed  the  legs  and  feet, 
which  swelling  and  assuming  a  brown  color,  mortified  and 
inevitably  led  to  a  wretched  death.107  It  was  called  the 
holy  fire,  the  infernal,  and  finally  St.  Anthony's  fire,  be- 
cause the  recent  arrival  of  the  body  of  St.  Anthony  having 
inspired  the  victims  of  this  plague  with  the  thought  of  in- 
voking him,  it  proved  a  powerful  relief.  Public  prayers 
and  processions  were  ordered  against  this  scourge.  At 
length  it  pleased  God  to  grant  many  miraculous  cures  of 
this  dreadful  distemper  to  those  who  implored  His  mercy 
through  the  intercession  of  St.  Anthony,  especially  before 
his  relics.  Those  afflicted  with  the  Holy  Fire  flocked  to 
the  Priory  of  St.  Anthony,  where  the  good  lay  hospitaller 
received  them,  converting  the  building  into  a  hospital,  by 
the  leave  of  the  monks  of  the  Priory.  Great  numbers  of 
pilgrims  repaired  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Anthony,  and  his 
patronage  was  implored  over  the  whole  kingdom  against 
this  disease.  But  the  rich  oblations  were  a  cause  of  dis- 
sension between  the  monks  and  the  hospitallers,  and  they 
quarrelled  over  the  possession  of  them.  Boniface  at- 
tended to  this  scandal.  He  dismissed  the  monks,  bidding 
them  to  return  to  the  monastery  of  Mont  Majour ;  but  the 
hospitallers  he  allowed  to  remain.  He  converted  the 
Priory  into  an  Abbey  which  he  bestowed  on  the  hospitaller 
brothers,  and  gave  them  the  religious  rule  of  the  regular 
canons  of  St.  Augustine.  They  had  already  taken  as  the 
mark  of  their  society  the  letter  T,  whose  meaning  is  dis- 
puted. Some  said  that  it  meant  the  Greek  letter  Tau,  the 

108  Translatio  St.  Antonii  ap.  Bolland.  Mense  Jannarii,  pages  153,  154,  17, 
torn.  II.  lOTDu  Cange  Glass.  Lat.  Tom  III,  Ignis. 


260  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

mark  that  the  prophet  Ezechiel  saw  on  those  exempt  from 
the  divine  scourge,108  as  it  were  to  signify  that  those  con- 
secrated to  St.  Anthony  would  be  proof  against  the  pesti- 
lence. Others  say  that  it  was  the  image  of  a  crutch,  emble- 
matic of  the  malady  which  the  saint  miraculously  cured.109 
Boniface  desired 110  that  on  their  habit  the  hospitaller 
Augustinians  should  wear  this  sign.  St.  Anthony  was 
chosen  as  a  protector  against  all  pestilences,  and  just  as  in 
the  remotest  times  the  faithful  made  large  offerings  to 
churches  and  monasteries  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul 
(pro  redemptione  animae),  so  also  at  that  time  did  they 
give  bountifully  to  this  new  Order  for  the  relief  of  the 
body.  For  the  failure  of  the  public  authorities  to  provide 
against  contagion,  the  limited  knowledge  of  physicians, 
and  the  miserable  kind  of  life  led  by  a  half -civilized  peo- 
ple, rendered  more  formidable  a  malady  domestic  or  for- 
eign, and  men,  despairing  of  human  aid,  more  eagerly  had 
recourse  to  divine  remedies.  The  Order  of  St.  Anthony  by 
this  means  soon  became  very  rich;  but  it  came  to  a  bad 
end.  On  their  part  the  Friars  of  St.  Anthony  departed 
from  their  primitive  piety,  and  besides  many  impostors 
clothed  in  their  habits  went  about  extorting  alms  with 
bold  promises  of  spiritual  favors,  which  Dante  termed 
paying  money  without  the  coin.111 

Whilst  the  mind  of  the  reader  is  foreboding  the  ap- 
proach of  the  stormy  period  of  the  Pontificate  of  Boniface, 
it  seems  to  us,  that  besides  giving  an  exposition  of  the 
reasons  that  justified  him  in  his  resistance  of  the  usurpers 
of  the  property  and  liberty  of  the  Church,  it  is  necessary 
at  the  same  time  to  give  an  exposition  of  facts,  which  by 
reason  of  their  more  sensible  power  of  conviction,  may 

IDS  » Onmen  autem  super  quem  viderities  signura  Tau,  ne  occidatis " 
Ezechiel  9,  4.  loe  See  Bollandists.  "'  Bullardium  Tom.  I. 

m  "  which  now  the  dotard  holds  in  such  esteem, 
That  every  counterfeit,  who  spreads  abroad 
The  hands  of  holy  promise,  finds  a  throng 
Of  credulous  fools  beneath.     St.  Anthony 
Fattens  with  this  his  swine,  and  others  worse 
Than  swine,  who  diet  at  his  lazy  board, 
Paying  with  unstamp'd  metal  for  their  fare." 

Dante's  Paradise,  Canto  XXIX,  Wright's  translation. 
See  the  commentaries  of  Chevallier  de  Cesare  on  this  passage,  Acts 
of  the  Academy  of  Pontaniano,  vol.  II.  fasc.  II. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  261 

gently  lead  the  mind  of  the  reader  to  the  truth.  The 
Greek  Church  although  separated  from  the  Roman  has 
always  a  place  in  the  history  of  the  Pontiffs,  and  its  ap- 
pearance there  is  but  the  manifestation  of  either  the  vice 
which  devours  it  and  sinks  it  deeper  in  death,  or  of  the 
efforts  of  the  Popes  to  restore  it  to  life  by  a  reunion  with 
it.  During  the  years  that  Boniface  occupied  the  Papal 
Chair  we  do  not  find  among  the  Greeks  any  particular 
event  that  had  relation  with  the  Latins;  but  we  find  one 
permanent  and  general,  namely  the  contrast  of  the  evil 
produced  by  their  Church  with  the  good  flowing  upon  all 
Catholics  from  the  Roman  Church.  This  contrast  is  a 
source  of  knowledge  and  instruction  and  is  one  of  the  de- 
signs of  Providence  which  mingles  here  below,  for  our 
benefit,  truth  with  error.  And  if  there  be  a  life  of  a 
Roman  Pontiff,  in  which  the  historian  ought  to  study  the 
Greek  Church  to  learn  facts  regarding  the  Latin  Church, 
that  one  is  unquestionably  that  of  Boniface.  For  in  the 
impetuous  exercise  of  his  power  in  the  face  of  tyrants, 
this  great  Pope  shows  in  strong  relief  the  degradation  of 
the  priestly  dignity  at  Constantinople;  after  those  com- 
bats maintained  in  defence  of  civil  and  divine  justice,  he 
places,  so  to  speak,  the  drapery  of  triumph  upon  the 
episcopal  thrones  of  the  Greek  Church. 

The  history  of  the  usurpers  of  the  rights  of  the  Church 
always  follows  that  of  the  protectors.  For  protection  ren- 
dering the  benefactors  too  confident,  and  the  Church  less 
jealous  of  its  liberty,  it  happened  that  from  being  pro- 
tected she  becomes  enslaved.  The  favors  which  Charle- 
magne and  his  successors  bestowed  on  the  Roman  See  pre- 
pared that  way  for  the  subsequent  usurpations  of  the  Em- 
perors ;  and  the  most  cordial  welcome  given  by  Charles  to 
the  persecuted  Pope  Leo  in  France  was  afterwards 
changed  into  bitterness  in  the  disputes  over  the  investi- 
tures. The  princes  entered  the  house  to  defend  it,  and 
afterwards  refused  to  leave  in  order  that  they  might  rule 
there.  Constantine  the  Great  was  the  first  and  most 
striking  example  of  what  we  assert.  He  openly  embraced 
the  persecuted  religion  of  Christ,  he  built  churches,  he  en- 
riched them  and  took  the  clergy  under  the  imperial  protec- 
tion, but  he  intruded  himself  in  the  affair  of  Arius,  and 
that  pest  which  should  have  been  confined  to  the  deserts, 


260  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

was  reinstated  by  him  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  The 
usurpation  of  the  Church's  power  proceeded  beyond  meas- 
ure under  his  successors.  The  definitions  in  dogmatic 
questions  given  by  Constance,  Valens,  Heraclius,  and 
Zeno  would  excite  laughter,  were  it  not  that  they  caused 
grief  on  account  of  the  destruction  they  brought  upon 
souls.  The  Patriarchs  of  Constantinople  were  men  of 
wonderful  learning  and  courage,  (among  whom  the  most 
conspicuous  was  John  Chrysostoin  who  possessed  the 
genius  of  a  Demosthenes  with  the  heart  of  a  St.  Paul,) 
and  they  manfully  resisted  the  imperial  supremacy.  But 
the  resistance  did  not  last  long,  and  the  Greek  Church, 
enticed  at  first  to  syllogize  in  the  Court,  remained  there 
and  afterwards  became  its  servant  and  handmaid.  That 
jealousy  towards  old  Rome,  and  in  the  degradation  of  it 
the  desire  they  had  of  acquiring  for  their  Byzantium  the 
name  and  power  of  Home,  was  the  cause  of  this  cowardice 
of  the  clergy.  Municipal  love  unnerved  their  hearts,  and 
blinded  their  minds.  The  latter  became  blinded  in  view- 
ing the  seat  of  the  supreme  priesthood  of  Christ  in  eternal 
Home,  and  the  former  became  degenerate,  by  drawing 
strength  from  the  palace  of  the  Emperors.  The  fact  of  the 
Roman  See  being  so  far  away  contributed  to  deaden  in  the 
sacerdotal  breasts  the  love  of  unity.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  voice  of  the  Pontiffs  reached  as  far  as  the  Greeks, 
and  this  it  was  that  animated  with  the  spirit  of  God  the 
great  Councils  of  Nice,  Ephesus,  Constantinople  and  Chal- 
cedon.  But  the  noise  of  the  Barbarians  bursting  into 
Italy  weakened  it,  and  Byzantine  pride,  stung  to  the  quick 
by  a  sacred  command  from  Rome,  finally  silenced  it  en- 
tirely; and  the  Greek  Church,  having  left  the  sanctuary 
of  God,  and  being  stripped  of  its  priestly  trappings,  en- 
tered the  palace  of  Constantine,  and  put  on  the  palatine 
livery.  Photius  and  Michael  Cerularius  engrafted  their 
Church  to  the  imperial  trunk,  and  preferred  to  be  an  in- 
crustation and  an  offshoot  of  a  human  and  perishable 
power  rather  than  a  branch  of  the  tree  of  life. 

The  sad  effects  of  the  imperial  influence  were  soon  seen. 
Arianism  and  Nestorianism  heresies,  clothed  in  the  im- 
perial purple,  owed  their  origin  to  the  Greeks.  We  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  there  were  no  heresies  in  the  Latin 
Church,  for  heresies  even  entered  in  the  economy  of  the  di- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  263 

vine  counsels,  as  St.  Paul  says,  for  the  manifestation  of  the 
good.  But  these  two  errors  for  the  reason  that  they  were 
received  and  caressed  in  the  palace  in  their  early  period 
of  existence  and  because  a  Church  deprived  of  the  Apos- 
tolic force  of  Rome  was  powerless  to  arrest  their  march, 
they  became  most  terrible  and  formidable  on  account  of 
their  magnitude  and  their  duration.  At  the  mere  mention 
of  these  heresies  the  Waldenses,  the  Albigenses  and  the 
Fraticelli  sink  into  insignificance.  These  latter  afflicted 
the  Latin  Church,  but  the  Arians  and  Nestorians  like  pes- 
tilences gnawed  and  ate  into  the  Greek  Church,  which 
afterwards,  altogether  vitiated,  breathed  its  last  breath  in 
the  arms  of  the  schismatic  Photius.  The  Greek  Church 
remained  excluded  from  the  providential  benefits  which 
the  Roman  Church  scattered  over  the  entire  West.  These 
regions  underwent  great  tribulations,  but  they  were  born 
again  to  a  new  life.  The  Orient  went  to  rot  under  the 
foolish  pride  of  its  despots,  and  it  encountered  that  slow 
death  that  was  prepared  for  it  by  vile  Islamism.  In  the 
West  the  Latin  Church  struggled  with  usurping  princes; 
but,  she  was  represented  by  the  Pontiffs  who  upheld  the 
clergy  in  their  high  ministry,  she  did  not  bow  the  head  in 
submission,  nor  did  she  descend  from  the  throne  on  which 
God  had  placed  her,  but  triumphed  over  error,  and  took 
the  opportunity  to  plant  the  seeds  of  a  new  birth  in  the 
heart  of  civil  society.  We  have  said  that  the  Church  did 
not  bow  in  submission,  but  Frederick  submitted  to  Pope 
Alexander  III  in  Venice,  and  Henry  IV  asked  pardon  of 
St.  Gregory  VII  at  Canossa. 

This  noble  fortitude  of  the  Church,  and  these  subjec- 
tions of  kings,  proved  that  the  principle  of  the  Papal 
supremacy  was  not  dead  in  the  West,  although  combated 
by  events.  Even  granting  that  the  Byzantine  princes  had 
been  always  wicked,  but  yet  if  the  clergy  had  always 
strongly  resisted  them  the  affairs  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Churches  would  have  proceeded  nobly  on  the  same  way  to 
a  most  holy  term,  but  alas!  the  pride  of  the  princes  and 
the  cowardice  of  the  clergy  raised  that  wall  of  separation 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  long  before  the 
time  of  Photius.  A  wonderful  lesson.  The  West  writh  the 
cross  upon  its  breast  arose  to  arms,  and  went  to  meet  the 
East  shining  as  yet  with  an  ancient  light,  to  consult  it, 


264        HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  yill. 

and  crave  a  ray  to  illumine  itself,  and  it  is  Christian 
Byzantium  which  interposed  itself  an  enemy  to  impede 
the  union  fruitful  of  so  much  civilization. 

Material  misfortunes  sometimes  aroused  the  Greeks 
from  the  sleep  of  error;  but  yet  this  awakening  occurred 
rather  among  the  Emperors  who  had  worldly  possessions 
to  lose,  than  among  the  clergy  who  placed  all  their  happi- 
ness in  preserving  themselves  free  from  all  allegiance  to 
the  Roman  See.  When  Charles  of  Anjou  took  up  arms 
against  Byzantium,  it  was  not  the  clergy  who  became 
alarmed,  no,  but  the  Emperor  Michael  Paleologus. 
Through  fear  of  Charles,  and  with  the  hope  of  obtaining 
Papal  aid  he  suddenly  acknowledged  his  belief  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope  and  in  the  procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Any  one  who  reads  the  history  of  George  Pachy- 
mer 112  will  find  that  Paleologus  did  not  conceal  the 
reason  of  his  ill-timed  belief,  but  he  openly  stated  it  in 
those  discourses  which  he  delivered  before  the  Patriarch 
Joseph  and  the  clergy  in  order  to  persuade  them  to  follow 
his  opinions.  In  the  efforts  of  Michael  Paleologus  to 
reunite  the  Greeks  with  the  Latins,  in  the  futility  of  the 
same  the  Greek  Church  came,  as  if  by  divine  decree,  to 
reveal  to  the  Latin  her  internal  wretchedness.  The  reason 
why  the  Greeks  having  first  agreed  to  the  union,  soon 
afterwards  shrank  from  it,  was  because  their  minds  wav- 
ered, being  tossed  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine.  If 
in  the  dogmatizing  proceedings  of  the  Emperor  he  made 
use  of  prisons  and  exile  in  order  to  force  his  commands, 
it  was  because  liberty  was  wanting.  And  if  those  ab- 
horring a  union  with  Rome  displayed  obstinacy,  it  was  be- 
cause they  were  wanting  in  unity  and  for  that  reason 
the  truth.  This  is  how  Nicephorus  Gregoras,113  who 
lived  a  little  after  the  times  of  which  we  speak,  and 
although  he  was  a  Greek,  tells  mournfully  the  state  of  his 
Church :  "  In  the  remotest  times  the  Church  abounded  in 
"  learned  doctors,  who  on  various  days  and  in  different 
"  places  of  Constantinople  were  wont  to  expound  some 
"the  Psalms  of  David,  others  the  Epistles  of  the  great 
"  Paul,  and  others  the  Gospels  of  the  Saviour.  Then  all 
"  the  priests  in  turn  preached  the  divine  word  in  the 

ljaHistoriae  Bizantinae  Script.  Tom.  XIII,  lib.  V. 

118  Hist.  Byzant.  Script.,  torn.  XX,  par.  1,  pag.  93,  V  and  XI. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  265 

"  houses,  and  in  different  quarters  of  the  city ;  in  the 
"  courts  and  in  the  parish  churches.  In  human  life  there 
"  was  something  of  the  divine,  that  is  to  say,  the  true 
"  manner  of  apprehending  religion,  and  a  certain  path- 
"  way  to  virtue,  or  rather  a  certain  irrigation  from  the 
"  great  and  heavenly  spring,  which  watered  the  souls 
"  of  the  hearers,  and  gathered  them  together,  and  pre- 
"  pared  them  for  better  things.  But  in  the  course  of 
"  time  all  these  things  have  disappeared.  In  our  days 
"  every  holy  custom  is  lost,  being  submerged  as  it  were  in 
"  the  deep  sea.  Hence  a  like  contagion  infesting  the  other 
tl  churches,  the  souls  of  all  Christendom  in  these  days 
"  find  themselves,  as  it  were,  in  a  desert  plain  without  a 
"  pathway  and  without  water.  And  to  such  a  degree  of 
"  shamefulness  have  things  arrived,  that  for  a  small  obo- 
"  lus  one  may  hear  the  rattling  of  most  horrible  oaths, 
"  which  the  hand  of  the  writer  dare  not  record.  For  the 
"  salutary  light  of  religion  and  reason  having  disappeared, 
"  all  is  confusion.  Many  being  fallen  into  a  .brutish 
"  stupidity,  there  is  no  one  who  can  arrive  at  an  under- 
"  standing  of  what  is  useful  or  how  piety  is  distinguished 
"  from  impiety."  Such  is  the  sad  state  to  which  the 
Greek  Church  had  come.  This  state  of  affairs  was  not  the 
result  of  human  frailty,  nor  of  those  vices  which  always 
are  plotting  against  the  life  of  the  spouse  of  Christ,  but 
came  about  because  the  priestly  spirit  had  died  in  the 
clergy;  that  is  to  say  from  the  lack  of  a  barrier  to  these 
vices.  For  the  episcopate  established  by  God  to  govern 
his  Church,  is  charged  not  only  to  provide  it  with  a  life- 
giving  pasture,  but  also  to  protect  it  from  death,  which 
certainly  occurs  when  it  is  deprived  of  its  liberty. 

For  this  reason  Boniface  at  the  door  of  the  Church 
refused  an  entrance  to  those  who  desired  to  plot  against 
its  life,  and  if  through  the  imperfections  of  human  nature 
anything  is  to  be  censured  in  his  holy  ministry,  yet  he 
should  be  commended  and  honored  for  having  preserved 
all  Catholicism  from  those  evils  which  shamefully  dis- 
graced the  Greek  Church. 


BOOK  V. 

SUMMARY. 

1300--1303. 

How  the  Papacy  had  resisted  the  abuses  of  force  and  law  by  the  faith  of 
the  people. — This  latter  having  languished,  the  Pontificate  of  Boniface 
becomes  difficult. — He  sees  a  new  civilization  born  in  Italy  at  the  foot 
of  his  throne. — He  wishes  to  sanctify  it  by  faith. — He  institutes  the 
Jubilee. — He  first  proclaims  it. — Immense  number  of  pilgrims  at  Rome. 
— Great  offerings. — Giotto,  and  the  works  confided  to  him  by  Boniface. 
— The  singular  embassy  sent  to  him  from  Florence. — The  impulse 
which  the  Jubilee  gave  to  Italian  minds. — The  Tartars  or  Mongols 
send  envoys  to  Boniface,  to  ask  aid  against  the  Turks. — His  fruitless 
efforts  to  arouse  a  Crusade. — With  the  end  of  the  Crusades  the  Otto- 
man Empire  arose. — Efforts  of  Boniface  against  Sicily. — His  letter  to 
Charles  II. — Disturbances  in  Florence. — The  White  and  Black  Guelphs. 
— Unfruitful  legation  of  Cardinal  d'Acquasparta. — Boniface  calls 
Charles  of  Valois  into  Italy. — Dante,  Ambassador  to  Rome. — Civil  dis- 
sensions in  Florence. — Dino  Compagni. — Charles  of  Valois  enters 
Florence. — Instead  of  pacifying  it,  he  arouses  dissensions. — Boniface 
wishes  to  remedy  the  mischief  of  the  Frenchman,  by  sending  Cardinal 
d'Acquasparta  to  Florence,  but  in  vain. — The  evils  of  Florence  reach 
their  height  under  Charles  of  Valois. — The  exile  of  Dante. — He  be- 
comes a  Ghibelline,  and  creates  a  new  epic  poem. — Dante  and  Boniface. 
— Charles  of  Valois  instead  of  waging  war,  makes  an  agreement  with 
Frederick  of  Sicily. — The  treaty  concluded  by  him. — Rejected  at  first 
by  Boniface,  he  afterwards  approved  it. — Moral  conditions  of  Philip 
the  Fair  and  Boniface  at  the  time  of  their  rupture. — Why  Boniface 
according  to  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  Holy  See  loved  France. — 
Quarrels  between  the  Archbishop  and  the  Viscount  of  Narbonne. — 
Boniface  takes  sides  with  the  prelate. — He  wishes  to  recover  to  the 
Church  the  country  of  Melguevil. — He  dispatches  the  bishop  of  Pami- 
ers  as  legate  to  Philip. — Philip  fabricates  charges  against  him  and  im- 
prisons him. — Parliament  of  Senlis. — Its  message  to  Boniface. — His 
reply  to  it. — The  Bull  "Ausculta  Fili,"  and  the  summoning  of  a  synod 
at  Rome. — Insolence  of  Peter  Flotte,  and  the  false  letters  which  he 
fabricated. — James  Norman  as  Papal  Legate  brings  that  Bull  to 
France. — It  is  burned  by  Philip. — Parliament  in  the  Church  of  Notre- 
Dame  of  Paris. — The  discourse  of  Philip  in  the  mouth  of  Flotte. — 
Faint-heartedness  of  the  French  prelates. — Letter  sent  by  the  Par- 

266 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  267 

liament  to  the  Pope  and  Cardinals. — Consistory  in  Rome,  and  the  dis- 
course of  Cardinal  De  Murro,  and  then  that  of  Boniface. — An  ob- 
servation on  the  indirect  power  of  the  Pope  over  the  states  of  Princes. 
— Egidio  Colonna. — The  doctrine  of  the  English  and  Spanish  churches 
concerning  the  sacred  immunities. — Synod  held  by  Boniface. — The  Bull 
"  Unam  Sanctam." — Another  observation  on  the  power  of  the  Pope  and 
the  appeals  to  the  Councils. —  Efforts  of  Boniface  to  maintain  peace 
with  Philip. — Disturbances  in  Hungary  over  the  succession  to  the 
throne. — Boniface  protects  the  Minor  Carobert,  and  sends  a  Legate  to 
Hungary. — His  letters  to  the  Legate. — Other  letters  to  Wenceslaus 
King  of  Bohemia. — He  is  reconciled  with  Albert  of  Austria,  and  ac- 
knowledges him  King  of  the  Romans. 

IN  narrating  the  events  that  happened  under  the  Pon- 
tificate of  Boniface  VIII  at  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  we  rejoice  to  say  that  the  Papal  throne 
was  occupied  by  this  man,  who  reviled  by  many,  cannot 
but  be  admired  by  all  as  the  last  support  of  that  magni- 
ficent civil  Pontificate,  at  a  time  when,  having  created  a 
pure  and  noble  civilization  in  the  heart  of  Italy,  misun- 
derstood and  calumniated  by  its  own  children,  it  retired 
weary  and  sad  to  repose  in  the  holy  and  inviolable  re- 
cesses of  religion  to  which  it  gave  form.  When  the 
Papacy,  called  upon  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  human  race, 
to  consider  and  dispense  the  rights  of  kings  and  people, 
had  given  the  decision  which  strongly  and  sweetly  should 
have  brought  men  together  in  friendly  relations  by  the 
bonds  of  justice;  when  it  had  consecrated  on  the  altar  of 
God  that  liberty  which,  by  freeing  human  society,  per- 
mitted man  to  seek  for  the  good,  then  the  adult  genera- 
tions, in  their  fair  youth,  advanced  admirably  on  the  way 
of  the  beautiful  and  the  good.  The  Roman  Papacy  had 
to  encounter  many  difficulties  from  the  fall  of  the  empire 
of  Augustus  up  to  this  time.  It  was  its  duty  and  its  wish 
to  preserve  and  increase  the  principle  of  life  in  human 
society,  by  directing  it  so  as  not  to  allow  it  to  relapse  into 
barbarism,  which  is  the  principle  of  death;  and  for  that 
reason  it  had  triumphantly  fought  the  twofold  enemy  of 
that  life,  namely  the  despotism  of  law  and  the  despotism 
of  force.  The  former  was  a  difficult  fight,  and  the  other 
was  superhuman,  because  the  Papacy  found  itself  face  to 
face  with  a  despotism  complete  in  matter  and  form.  That 
power  was  wonderful  which  softened  the  hearts  of  the 
savage  tribes  which  overran  Europe;  and  that  power  was 


268 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


assuredly  divine  which  built  up  as  a  wall  the  law  of  God 
in  opposition  to  the  force  which  called  itself  law.  And 
for  that  reason  the  holy  rights  of  the  Church,  her  immuni- 
ties and  liberty  were  the  formal  expression  of  the  law  of 
God,  which  prescribed  a  limit  to  the  right  of  princes;  if 
this  limit  did  not  exist,  that  right  would  be  injurious  to 
God,  as  being  emulous  of  His  power;  and  would  be  fatal 
to  men,  as  being  the  destroyer  of  the  law,  which  protects 
them.  We  speak  not  of  men ;  but  of  that  supreme  medium, 
the  Papacy,  which  divine  providence  made  use  of  in 
order  to  make  human  life  less  unhappy.  Wherefore  if  at 
times  the  heads  that  wore  the  Papal  mitres  seemed  to  be 
clouded  with  worldly  thoughts ;  if  the  hands  that  held  the 
scales  of  justice  seemed  weak  and  trembling;  and  if  the 
eyes  of  the  mind  seemed  turned  towards  worldly  objects, 
yet  the  person  as  Pontiff  always  sought  the  end  to  which 
the  finger  of  God  pointed,  invested  with  and  conducted  by 
his  power.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1300  the  external  enemy  of  civil  society,  bar- 
barism, and  the  internal,  the  abuse  of  public  rights,  had 
disappeared  or  were  harmless.  On  the  one  hand  Islamism 
in  the  East  threatened  from  without  the  civilization  of 
Europe;  on  the  other  hand  the  terrible  difficulty  of  con- 
ciliating order  and  liberty  harassed  in  a  bloody  manner 
the  democracies,  and  was  already  slowly  tormenting  peo- 
ple ruled  by  absolute  monarchs.  The  Roman  Papacy  con- 
tinued the  war  against  these  two  enemies,  and  will  con- 
tinue as  long  as  the  religion  of  Christ  will  be  the  bene- 
factor of  men,  but  not  with  as  much  force  as  at  first,  owing 
to  the  want  of  means,  by  which  it  aroused  the  people  and 
led  them  on  to  this  double  combat,  namely,  by  the  ardor 
of  their  faith.  By  means  of  this  Pope  Urban  II  aroused 
the  West  to  meet  and  repel  the  barbarism  of  the  children 
of  Mahomet;  and  by  which  Gregory  VII  kept  the  imperial 
power  within  bounds.  After  the  beginning  of  the  XlVth 
century,  the  Church  defended  civilization  against  the 
above  mentioned  adversaries,  not  by  the  spontaneous  de- 
votion of  the  people,  but  at  times  by  using  the  interests 
of  the  princes  and  the  people,  at  other  times  by  immedi- 
ately enlarging  her  power.  Urban  aroused  the  people  as 
a  whole  by  reason  of  the  equality  of  their  faith  and  devo- 
tion to  his  throne.  Pius  V  incited  the  individual  princes 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

through  the  inequality  of  their  interests.  Gregory  VII 
and  Innocent  resisted  the  imperial  tyranny  by  the  faith  of 
the  people;  Pius  VII  by  the  immediate  power  of  the 
Papacy,  which  is  absolute  and  omnipotent  like  God  him- 
self who  established  it.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  the 
former  of  these  Pontiffs  obtained  more  abundant  results 
and  appeared  less  merely  human  than  the  latter. 

Boniface  found  himself  at  the  head  of  Christianity  pre- 
cisely at  that  time  when  the  powerful  means  of  faith  was 
losing  its  force;  his  duty  by  reason  of  being  Pontiff,  was 
to  combat  with  human  means  the  two  enemies  of  the 
young  civilization,  to  even  oppose  his  own  bosom  to  them ; 
that  is  why  he  appeared  a  man,  and  his  adversaries  dis- 
played so  much  fury  and  bitterness.  However,  if  he  had 
the  ill-fortune  of  being  obliged  to  make  the  Pontificate 
advance  in  the  same  way,  but  by  different  means,  he  had, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  remarkable  good  fortune  of  being 
destined  by  Heaven  to  see  and  welcome  to  his  arms,  so  to 
speak,  the  holy  and  true  civilization  which  the  Pontifi- 
cate had  conceived  from  the  time  of  Augustus  to  this 
epoch.  This  was  the  civilization  which  the  Pontificate 
had  animated  and  vivified,  not  by  the  corrupt  spirit  of  the 
Caesars,  but  by  the  virginal  purity  of  the  Church.  He 
saw,  in  this  well-beloved  and  charming  Italy,  a  nursery 
of  good  plants,  in  this  Italy  fructified  by  the  sweat  of  the 
Popes,  the  Latin  genius  awaken  as  out  of  a  long  sleep, 
and  the  fine  arts  arise  about  him,  as  a  festal  crown; 
he  saw  that  our  soul  could  represent  in  the  arts  of  thought 
and  fancy  the  brilliant  forms  with  which  God  himself 
had  clothed  religion.  So  whilst  he  was  calling  to  arms  to 
oppose  a  barrier  to  Islamism  in  the  East;  and  from  the 
height  of  the  Vatican  stronghold  he  was  hurling  thunder- 
bolts against  usurpers,  he  saw  developing  around  him  a 
band  of  men,  who  in  the  greatness  of  their  genius  seemed 
superhuman;  and  who  within  the  shadow  of  the  Papal 
chair,  were  opening  the  age,  upon  the  threshold  of  which 
they  had  been  placed,  to  a  new  light,  which  was  to  shine 
from  the  summit  of  the  Alps  and  diffuse  itself  through- 
out the  world.  Dante,  Giotto,  Blessed  Angelico,  Marco 
Polo,  Flavius  Gioja,  and  others,  all  Italians,  all  crowned 
and  resplendent  with  the  aureola  of  religion,  were  the 
glorious  fathers  of  the  civilization  of  which  we  are  to-day 


270 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


so  proud.  Dante  created  a  new  epic,  which  is  after  the 
manner  of  neither  Homer  nor  Virgil,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
altogether  spiritual  in  nature  and  altogether  divine.  For 
his  all  powerful  imagination  taking  wing  from  the  eternal 
foundations  of  good  and  evil,  of  reward  and  punishment, 
arrested  its  flight  only  in  the  infinite  region  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  which  is  the  essential  dogma  of  the  true 
religion;  and  the  sublime  poet  so  confesses  this  in  verse, 
that  the  claim  will  last  as  long  as  remains  the  idea  of  the 
true  and  the  beautiful.  Giotto  and  Fra  Angelico,  and  all 
of  their  seraphic  school,  as  if  no  longer  conscious  of  the 
material  envelope  of  this  human  mind,  infused  into  the 
art  of  painting  a  ray  truly  of  Paradise,  mystic  and  holy 
like  the  virgins  and  saints  they  represented.  And  that 
knowledge  of  spiritual  beauty  they  did  not  receive  from 
the  ancient  Greeks,  nor  from  the  Byzantines,  but  from 
the  Church  alone.  Dante  and  Giotto  are  crude  in  external 
forms,  but  divine  in  soul ;  their  poetry  and  painting  with- 
out form  because  of  the  innocent  youthfulness  of  the  fine 
arts,  exhale  the  odor  and  life  of  the  maternal  milk  which 
they  drank  at  the  breast  of  Mother  Church.  Those  voy- 
ages which  establish  communications  and  relations 
among  men,  which  open  ways  and  outlets  for  human 
thought,  that  it  may  not  become  stagnant,  but  may  in- 
crease the  mutual  contact  in  order  that  there  may  be  an 
uniform  diffusion  of  goodness  in  the  social  moral  body, 
began  to  be  frequent  in  this  age,  and  religion  pointed  out 
the  way,  and  encouraged  and  animated  the  first  discov- 
erers of  new  lands,  "  not  by  oak  nor  triple  bronze,"  as 
Horace  says,  but  by  charity.  The  daring  Marco  Polo  and 
the  missionaries  whom  the  Roman  Church  sent  to  distant 
and  almost  unknown  countries  in  this  century,  taught 
posterity  that  this  base  world  is  altogether  a  thing  of 
man,  which  he  can  traverse  and  measure  by  his  steps ;  and 
their  teaching  and  example  begot  Columbus,  the  donor  of 
a  new  world.  Moreover  these  wonders  were  wrought  in 
our  Italy  still  harassed  by  domestic  wars.  It  seemed  that 
irascibility  of  spirit  nourished  the  flame  of  genius.  A 
great  lesson  resulted  from  this  fact,  namely,  that  even 
from  the  vices  of  an  active  and  progressive  people  some 
good  can  come,  but  never  from  those  of  poltroons  and 
idlers. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  271 

The  fourteenth  century  dawned;  and  if  the  great  soul 
of  Boniface  rejoiced  at  the  brilliant  progress  of  the  gen- 
erations issuing  from  infancy,  it  felt  also  a  deep  pain  at 
the  sight  of  the  decline  among  the  nations  of  that  faith, 
which  in  ages  past  had  been  the  source  of  such  deep  re- 
spect for  the  Papacy.  Princely  encroachments  on  the 
rights  of  the  Church  had  taught  him  how  weak  in  their 
opinion  and  hence  in  that  of  the  people,  had  grown  the 
power  of  ecclesiastical  thunderbolts.  He  saw  daily  how 
princes  and  people  who  but  lately  had  laid  their  com- 
plaints before  the  Holy  See  as  a  tribunal  recognized  by 
all,  remained  more  and  more  aloof;  he  saw  the  Papal  de- 
cision replaced  by  that  of  the  people,  who,  having  escaped 
their  tutor,  wanted  to  act  for  themselves.  The  Magna 
Charta  in  England,  the  States-General  in  France,  the 
Courts  of  Aragon  were  proofs  that  the  nations  knew  how 
to  construct  bulwarks,  and  make  use  of  them  to  check 
the  powers  threatening  to  degenerate  into  tyrannies.  That 
the  Pope  was  pleased  with  and  applauded  these  noble 
efforts,  wre  cannot  doubt ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  im- 
possible for  Boniface  not  to  foresee  that,  in  case  of  col- 
lision between  the  two  parties,  the  fight  would  be  long,  and 
the  victory  of  one  over  the  other  would  result  in  tyranny 
or  anarchy.  Therefore  Boniface,  although  admiring  the 
movement,  put  no  hopes  in  it  and  sought  to  call  back  the 
minds  of  men  to  the  principles  of  faith,  in  order  that  the 
rude  nations  after  having  laid  aside  the  trappings  of 
youth,  should  yet  preserve  a  respect  for  Mother  Church, 
and  not  despise  her  old  and  tried  wisdom.  And  so 
he  instituted  the  "  Jubilee,"  as  a  last  means  to  unite 
during  a  few  days  the  children  to  their  mother,  Holy 
Church,  that  close  to  her  bosom,  they  would  feel  the  ma- 
ternal warmth,  and  naturally  their  filial  affection  would 
return,  and  by  love  for  her  they  would  be  conducted  to 
peace  and  justice. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  efforts  of  certain  writers  were 
vain  and  fruitless,  who  endeavored  to  show  that  the  in- 
stitution of  the  Jubilee  antedated  the  time  of  Boniface  in 
the  Church,  as  if  he,  in  instituting  it,  did  something  either 
superstitious  or  what  was  not  authorized  by  previous 
Papal  authority.  But  the  granting  of  centenary  indulg- 
ences to  those  visiting  the  great  Basilicas  at  a  certain 


272 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


time,  was  not  an  act  that  exceeded  the  Papal  authority, 
nor  was  it  superstitious,  and  for  this  reason  to  Boniface 
all  credit  and  glory  must  be  given  for  this  pious  and 
magnificent  institution,  which  can  be  said  to  be  the  no- 
blest act  he  performed  in  the  supreme  priesthood.  He  did 
not  invent  indulgences,  for  if  the  immensity  of  the  merits 
of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  the  Keys  in  the  Pontiffs  be 
true,  then  are  indulgences  most  true  and  as  old  as  the 
Church  herself;  but  the  distribution  of  these  merits 
solemnly  administered  for  the  full  remission  of  the  tem- 
poral punishment  at  the  beginning  of  each  century  of 
those  who  would  visit  with  faith  the  mystical  rock  of  the 
Church  of  God,  was  a  solemn  and  most  holy  thought  that 
was  conceived  solely  in  the  mind  of  Boniface.  To  renew 
by  one's  personal  presence  that  charity  which  runs  like  a 
perennial  spring  of  life  from  the  head  to  the  members  of 
the  Church;  to  honor  by  universal  homage  the  tomb  of 
the  Apostles,  the  chief  founders  of  the  Church ;  to  call  the 
nations  to  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  that  the  memory  of 
these  heroes  might  invigorate  faith;  and  finally  in  order 
that  the  chief  Shepherd  of  every  age  amidst  the  joy  of 
pardon  might  embrace  his  flock  in  the  bowels  of  Christ, 
this  was  the  wonderful  purpose,  that  God  suggested  to 
this  Pope  in  instituting  the  Jubilee.  However  Boniface 
did  not  wish  to  rely  on  his  own  judgment  alone  in  this 
matter.  He  ordered  Cardinal  Stephaneschi,1  who  has  left 
in  prose  and  verse  an  account  of  this  Jubilee,  to  search 
the  old  writings,  to  see  if  he  could  find  any  vestige  of 
those  centenary  indulgences  in  past  ages,  and  he  found 
nothing  else  but  the  antiquity  of  the  pilgrimages  to  the 
tomb  of  the  Apostles  (and  the  pilgrims  were  called 
Komei),  and  the  indulgences  that  were  granted  the  pil- 
grims. Therefore  at  a  meeting  of  the  Cardinals  he  pre- 
sented the  new  project,  to  have  their  advice,  and  they  all 
applauded  the  holy  and  beautiful  thought.  On  the  feast 
of  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter  in  the  Vatican  Basilica  filled  by 
a  large  multitude  of  the  faithful,  Boniface  ascended  the 
pulpit,  which  was  resplendent  with  gold,  and  adorned 
with  festive  drapery  of  silk.  He  preached  the  Jubilee  to 
the  people,  and  exhibited  to  the  view  of  the  astonished 
multitude  the  writing  bearing  the  Papal  seals  which  pro- 

1  James  Card,  de  Jubilee  c.  1. 


BONIFACE   VIII   PROCLAIMING   THE   JUBILEE, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  273 

claimed  the  precious  pardon.  Boniface  made  known  to 
those  of  that  time  and  to  posterity,  that  from  time  im- 
memorial it  was  a  faithful  tradition,  that  all  those  visit- 
ing the  Roman  Basilica  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles 
gained  bountiful  forgiveness  of  their  sins  and  indulg- 
ences ;  and  that  he  by  reason  of  his  office,  anxious  for  and 
attentive  to  the  spiritual  salvation  of  every  one,  held  valid 
that  pardon  and  those  indulgences  and  confirmed  and  ap- 
proved them  by  Apostolic  authority,  and  strengthened 
them  by  the  force  of  that  document,  in  order  that  the 
honor  paid  to  the  blessed  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  would 
henceforth  be  increased,  the  pious  visits  to  their  Basilicas 
would  be  more  frequent,  and  as  a  result  the  faithful  would 
feel  consoled  by  a  greater  abundance  of  piety.  So  trust- 
ing in  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  merits  of  the  Holy 
Apostles,  with  the  advice  of  the  Cardinals  and  from  the 
fullness  of  his  power  he  was  pleased  to  grant  the  most 
bountiful  indulgences  to  all  those  who,  penitent  and  con- 
fessed in  that  year,  and  as  well  in  the  beginning  of  every 
century,  would  undertake  with  all  reverence  to  visit  those 
Basilicas.  In  order  to  obtain  these  indulgences  the  in- 
habitants of  Rome  were  obliged  to  continue  their  pious 
visits  for  thirty  days  while  those  of  the  country  and  the 
pilgrims  were  allowed  to  make  them  in  fifteen  days.  The 
treasury  of  the  indulgences  was  closed  only  against  those 
in  rebellion,  chief  among  whom  were  Frederick  and  his 
Sicilian  abettors,  and  the  Colonnas.  For,  as  the  monk 
John  Rossi,3  remarks  "  they  were  to  be  deprived  of  the 
"  clemency  of  him,  whose  majesty  they  despised."  4 

The  religious  excitement  which  the  publication  of  the 
Papal  decree  produced  throughout  Europe  was  extraordi- 
nary. As  if  the  indulgences  promised  by  Boniface  to 
those  coming  to  Rome  were  to  be  the  last,  an  immense 
multitude  of  the  faithful,  regardless  of  sex  or  age  and 
undeterred  by  the  distance,  flocked  to  the  Eternal  City 
so  that  it  was  filled  to  overflowing.  Those  who  were  physi- 
cally unable  to  come  were  brought  thither.  Cardinal 
Stepaneschi  relates  the  incident  of  an  old  Savoyard  peas- 
ant, a  man  over  one  hundred  years  of  age,  who  did  not 
wish  to  die  without  the  spiritual  consolation  of  these  in- 

3  James  Card,  de  Jubilee  c.  3.  *Vit.  Bonif.  cap.  XI,  page  221. 

4  Vide  Doc.  D. 


274 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


diligences,  and  made  his  sons  convey  him  to  Rome.  More- 
over besides  the  citizens  of  Rome  there  were  counted  two 
hundred  thousand  pilgrims  continuously  throughout  the 
entire  year,  besides  those  who  were  on  the  way  coming  or 
returning.  In  the  beginning  the  throng  of  people  was  so 
great  and  so  impetuous,  that  many  lost  their  lives  by 
suffocation.  A  remedy  was  thought  of,  which  Stephan- 
eschi 5  says  was  even  insufficient,  namely  a  breach  was 
made  in  the  walls,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  entrance  and 
departure  of  the  immense  multitude  collected  within  and 
without  the  walls  of  the  city. 

But  if  the  throng  of  visitors  was  marvellous,  no  less 
wonderful  was  the  skill  of  Boniface  in  providing  that 
there  would  be  no  scarcity  of  food  for  both  men  and 
beasts.  It  was  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  as  Baronius 
narrates,  that  the  sanctity  of  these  days  was  not  disturbed 
by  any  disorder  in  that  vast  multitude,  since  it  could 
easily  happen  both  from  the  immense  crowd,  and  the  first 
meeting  of  so  many  people  differing  in  language  and 
customs.6 

If  the  Pope  had  been  more  than  generous  in  spiritual 
indulgences,  the  faithful  were  not  behind  in  their  dona- 
tions to  the  Basilicas.  Ventura,  an  eye-witness,  declares 
that  day  and  night  he  had  seen  clerics  with  rakes  in  hand, 
gathering  the  money  which  poured  in  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar  of  the  Apostle.  By  the  light  of  that  vein  of  gold  the 
eyes  of  many  historians  were  so  blinded  as  to  believe  that 
Boniface  had  opened  the  fountain  of  indulgences  in  order 
to  drink  copiously  at  the  stream  of  pious  offerings.  They 
accused  him  of  being  greedy  after  money,  and  capable  of 
confounding  heavenly  and  earthly  things  in  order  to  ob- 
tain it.  But  Villani,  Compagni  and  other  Ghibelline 
writers,  eyewitnesses  of  these  facts,  when  they  saw  the 
clerics  collecting  the  money,  they  saw  as  well  two  hundred 
thousand  human  beings  besides  the  animals,  in  the  cir- 
cuit of  Rome,  being  fed,  and  having  an  abundance  of  food 
which  was  provided  by  the  Pontiff.  What  did  he  do  with 

'"Nam  ut  intra  et  extra  moenia  compacta  multitudo  aggarebatur,  eo 
amplius  quo  magis  in  dies  erat  processum.  Pluresque .  multitudine  dp- 
pressi  deinde  remedium,  etsi  baud  penitus  sufficient,  salubre  appositura 
facta  in  moenibus  alta,  quo  peregrinantibus  compendiosior  pateret  via 
inter  monumentum  Romuli  ac  vetustum  portum."  'Raynaldus  7. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  275 

the  offerings  which  they  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  altars 
but  spend  it  on  these  people?  These  offerings  did  not  lose 
anything  by  this;  being  blessed  by  the  virtue  of  the  sacri- 
fice, they  returned  for  the  relief  of  those  necessities  for 
which  God  created  gold  and  silver  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth.7 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  of  the  money  collected  dur- 
ing the  Jubilee  which  was  used  by  Boniface  to  increase 
the  patrimony  and  the  pomp  of  divine  worship  in  the 
Basilicas,8  that  which  he  used  in  embellishing  them  with 
paintings  by  Giotto  was  the  most  pleasing  and  acceptable 
to  God  and  men.  He  esteemed  highly  this  singular  genius, 
who  as  Lanzi  well  says,9  was  the  Raphael  of  painting  in 
the  beginning  of  its  renaissance.  Vasari  who  wrote  his 
life,  gives  us  to  understand  that  Giotto  was  first  called 
to  Rome  by  Benedict  IX  to  decorate  St.  Peter's  Church.10 
But  this  is  one  of  the  many  errors  of  that  biographer. 
Benedict  IX  assumed  the  Pontificate  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury (1033),  which  was  very  far  remote  from  the  time  of 
Giotto.  And  even  if  we  would  substitute  in  the  writings 
of  Vasari  XI  for  the  IX,  we  could  not  admit  that  Bene- 
dict XI  had  arranged  with  that  artist  to  execute  many 
paintings.  For  that  Pope  occupied  the  Papal  Chair  only 
eight  months  and  seventeen  days,  and  the  times  were  so 
stormy  and  troublesome  that  there  was  no  thought  given 
to  painting.  It  is  true  that  Boniface,  who  proclaimed  the 
Jubilee,  was  portrayed  by  Giotto,  and  the  painting  still 
exists  in  the  Lateran  Basilica,  which  work  could  not  have 
been  ordered  except  by  that  Pope.11  And  since  this  paint- 
ing was  but  the  relic  of  the  many  others  which  he  executed 
in  the  vestibule  of  the  Lateran  Basilica,  it  is  fair  to  con- 
clude, that  all  those  works  which  Vasari  says  were  per- 
formed at  the  solicitation  of  Benedict  XI,  should  be  attri- 
buted rather  to  Pope  Boniface. 

It  is  probable  that  Giotto  arrived  in  Rome  during  the 
year  of  the  Jubilee  which  brought  so  many  there.  In  this 
city  he  was  acquainted  with  Oderic  of  Gubbio,  a  famous 
painter  of  miniatures,  who  had  been  called  by  the  Pope 

*  See  note  E. 

*  Card.  James  of  St.  George.  De  Jubilaeo  Anno,  chap.  IX. 
•Hist,  of  Painting.  Florentine  School  first  epoch. 

10  D'Agincourt,  torn.  4.  part  II.  "  D'Agineourt,  idem. 


276  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

to  embellish  many  books  of  the  Palace,  as  Vasari  narrates, 
and  which  in  his  time  had  been  going  to  ruin.  The  Jubilee 
being  ended,  Boniface  wished  to  preserve  the  memory  of 
it  by  means  of  a  painting.  He  had  himself  portrayed  be- 
tween two  attendants,  while  a  third  one  read  from  an  un- 
folded parchment  the  famous  Bull  of  Institution.  All 
these  figures  were  placed  above  the  pulpit,  which  was 
handsomely  adorned  with  drapery,  bearing  the  Gaetani 
coat  of  arms.  The  Pope  is  depicted  clothed  in  the  ponti- 
fical robes  and  wearing  the  tiara  on  his  head,  his  head 
inclined  a  little  towards  the  reader,  and  his  right  hand 
raised  in  the  act  of  blessing.  Giotto  also  executed  in 
mosaic  in  the  vestibule  of  St.  Peter's  the  mystic  bark  of 
the  Church  in  a  great  storm,  with  the  Apostles  working 
to  save  it.  Vasari  marvelled  at  the  skill  which  the  painter 
displayed  in  assembling  those  pieces  of  glass,  so  as  to 
surpass  in  effect  that  which  he  could  have  done  with  the 
brush,  especially  in  the  swelling  of  the  sail  which  in  the 
lights  and  shadows  was  done  with  surprising  cleverness. 
Lanzi  laments  the  ill-advised  restoration  of  this  mosaic, 
after  which  nothing  remained  of  the  original  save  the 
memory.  The  Pontiff  had  employed  Giotto  in  other 
works,  namely  the  histories  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, which  the  artist  painted  round  about  St.  Peter's. 
In  the  time  of  Vasari  some  of  them  had  already  been  re- 
stored, or  rather  destroyed,  while  others  had  been  removed 
when  the  walls  were  rebuilt.  How  many  sins  has  Italy 
committed  against  those  who  had  raised  her  to  a  throne 
as  Queen  of  the  arts ! 

The  example  of  the  Pontiff  served  as  an  incentive  to 
others  in  Home  to  make  use  of  the  good  services  of  Giotto. 
Among  these  must  be  noted  those  miniatures  of  Cardinal 
Stephaneschi.  He  engaged  this  painter  to  enrich  with 
miniatures  his  books  of  the  Life  of  St.  George,  and  to 
decorate  with  frescoes  the  church  bearing  that  saint's 
name. 

From  pious  things  we  now  pass  to  public  affairs.  Flor- 
ence at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  in  a  most 
flourishing  condition,  and  enjoyed  domestic  peace,  which 
encouraged  men  of  talent  in  cultivating  the  fine  arts,  and 
at  that  time  she  began  the  erection  of  those  most  beauti- 
ful monuments,  for  which  after  Eome  there  was  no  other 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  277 

Italian  city  that  could  equal  her  in  the  splendor  and  ele- 
gance of  monuments  of  art,  and  which  entitled  her  to  be 
called  the  Italian  Athens.  It  was  during  that  time  that 
there  arose  that  sanctuary  of  true  Italian  splendor,  Santa 
Croce,  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  del  Fiore,  the  palace  of 
the  Priors,  and  the  fine  walls  which  still  surround  the 
city.  The  people  had  become  tired  of  domestic  turmoils. 
At  first  that  ardent  tribune  Giano  Bella  had  aroused  the 
people  against  the  nobles,  then  the  nobles  exerted  them- 
selves to  drive  him  out  of  the  country,  and  finally  they 
quieted  down,  the  Guelphs  becoming  so  strong,  that  the 
Ghibellines  were  entirely  overwhelmed.  This  predomi- 
nance of  the  Guelphs  was  derived  not  only  from  factional 
strength  but  from  a  certain,  as  it  were,  natural  tendency 
which  the  city  possessed  of  regulating  itself  according  to 
popular  and  Guelphish  forms.  Florence  then  being  alto- 
gether Guelph,  as  soon  as  the  Jubilee  was  proclaimed, 
wished  to  give  evidence  to  Boniface  of  the  love  she  bore 
the  Roman  See.  She  sent  numerous  and  splendid  em- 
bassies, which  inasmuch  as  they  intended  to  represent  the 
Guelph  Cities  close  to  the  Papal  See,  whose  throne  is 
above  the  royal  and  imperial  thrones,  were  composed  of 
various  personages,  each  one  of  which  was  to  represent 
some  ruling  potentate  of  those  times.  Thus  Vermulio 
Alfano  went  as  an  envoy  of  the  Emperor  of  the  West; 
Simon  Rossi,  for  the  Emperor  of  the  East;  Musciatto 
Franzese  for  the  King  of  France;  Ugolin  de  Cerchi  for 
the  King  of  England;  Romero  Frighinello  for  the  King 
of  Bohemia ;  Guicciardo  Bastaro  for  the  Khan  of  Tartary ; 
Mano  Miamano  for  the  King  of  Apulia;  Bernard  Vayo 
for  the  King  of  Sicily;  Beneviente  Folco  for  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  Knights  of  Rhodes;  Lupo  Uberti  for  the 
republic  of  Pisa;  Sino  Diotisalvi  for  Gerard  Verano,  lord 
of  Camerino;  and  Benedict  Nerli  for  the  lords  of  Scala, 
Verona,  and  Padua.  Pallas  Strozzi  represented  Florence. 
This  embassy  truly  poetical  in  conception,  lacked  nothing 
to  make  it  appear  marvellous  in  outward  splendor.  It 
was  accompanied  by  fully  five  hundred  knights  who  in  the 
richest  of  robes,  and  in  the  various  costumes  portrayed 
the  different  people  and  princes  they  intended  to  repre- 
sent It  is  surprising  that  Vallani  and  Compagni  make 
no  mention  of  this  singular  embassy,  nor  would  we  have 


278  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

touched  upon  it,  were  it  not  that  Rossi,  a  conscientious 
writer,  had  corroborated  two  Florentine  writers.12  We 
are  not  certain  of  the  month  in  which  this  embassy  was 
sent,  whether  before  or  after  the  unfortunate  dissensions 
between  the  Cerchi  and  Donati  in  Florence,  and  the  Can- 
cellieri  in  Pistoja.  For  if  it  occurred  afterwards,  we 
would  say  that  perhaps  under  the  appearance  of  a  solemn 
manifestation  of  homage  which  Florence  paid  to  the  Pope, 
it  was  the  work  of  the  Guelph  party  which  still  governed 
the  city,  whence  Boniface  might  endeavor  to  reconcile  the 
parties,  as  we  shall  soon  see  was  done  through  the  means 
of  another  special  embassy. 

Among  those  who  hastened  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
Papal  indulgences  were  many  distinguished  bishops  and 
princes,  either  under  the  garb  of  pilgrims,  or  openly  in 
their  official  dress.13  Among  these  was  Charles  Martel, 
eldest  son  of  Charles  the  Lame  of  Naples.  His  mother 
was  Mary,  sister  of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary,  and  as 
such  up  to  that  time  he  bore  the  title  of  King  of  Hungary, 
and  contested  with  Andrew  III  for  the  possessions  of  that 
kingdom.  He  was  of  Papal  creation,  being  aided  by 
Nicholas  IV  and  Celestine  V  to  ascend  the  throne,  and 
now  he  set  out  for  Rome  because  Boniface  made  the  way 
clear  for  him  to  succeed  to  his  paternal  throne  of  Naples, 
and  assured  his  son  Carobert  of  the  Hungarian  throne. 
He  saw  the  Jubilee,  but  he  did  not  see  the  fulfilment  of 
his  desires.  In  the  following  year  he  met  with  a  pre- 
mature death  in  Naples.  His  brother  Robert,  greedy  for 
power,  was  suspected  of  poisoning  him.14  But  so  good 
and  honest  of  heart  was  Robert  that  this  infamous  charge 
wras  doubtless  unfounded. 

The  people  derived  at  once  some  benefit  from  the  Jubi- 
lee. It  is  certain  that  in  this  year  the  minds  of  people 
being  engaged  with  the  thought  of  the  Papal  indulgences, 
they  were  restrained  from  giving  vent  to  any  animosity. 
And  Italy  especially  derived  immense  benefit  from  the 
visit  which  so  many  made  to  the  city  of  most  wonderful 

12  Peter  Calzolari.  De  Vir.  illust.  Florentiae — 'Paul.  Minus.  De  Nobil. 
Flor.  Cap.  de  Flor.  eloqu.  Claris  ap.  Rossi,  Life  of  Boniface,  chap.  XI, 
pages  121,  122. 

MSummonte  lib.  3.  chap.  2.  M  Trithemius  Chron.  Hirsaug. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  279 

memories.  The  Latin  monuments,  though  damaged  by 
the  barbarians  and  much  more  so  by  the  brutal  fury  of  the 
inhabitants,  were  not  all  demolished  and  upon  these  was 
enthroned  a  thought  of  civil  greatness,  which  appealing 
powerfully  still  to  lofty  minds,  encouraged  them  to  noble 
deeds.  The  Capitol,  the  Flavian  Amphitheatre,  the  tri- 
umphal arches,  the  Palace  of  the  Caesars,  the  temples  in 
their  majesty  and  beauty  of  form  brought  back  the  mind 
to  the  time  when  Rome,  a  wearied  conqueror  of  the  world, 
softened  the  fierce  warlike  spirit  by  a  cultivation  of  the 
fine  arts  and  a  love  for  learning,  writh  which  she  wished 
to  share  that  throne,  upon  which  she  sat  as  mistress  of  the 
world.  Foreigners  marvelled,  the  Italians  felt  themselves 
Latins,  and  that  blood  which  was  Roman  warming  up  in 
them,  they  aspired  to  Roman  greatness.  Florence  alone 
will  ever  be  a  living  witness  of  those  noble  efforts  which 
began  through  the  means  of  that  holy  pilgrimage.  John 
Villani  had  left  beautiful  stories  of  Florence,  which  he 
wrote  as  soon  as  he  returned  from  Rome,  where  he  had 
gone  to  gain  the  indulgences.  Rome  inspired  him :  "  Find- 
"  ing  myself  by  that  blessed  pilgrimage  in  the  holy  city  of 
"  Rome ;  seeing  her  grand  monuments  of  antiquity ;  and 
"  reading  the  history  and  the  great  deeds  of  the  Romans 

"  told  by  Virgil  and  Sallust ,1  have  adopted 

"  their  style  and  form,  although  their  unworthy  disciple 
"  I  am  incapable  of  works  so  beautiful  as  theirs."  15  But 
Rome  with  all  her  great  monuments  of  paganism  would 
have  been  only  a  cold  corpse  were  it  not  that  the  moral 
magnificence  of  the  Christian  Pontificate  had  given  life 
to  the  material  virtue  of  the  Caesars  which  had  died  with 
them.  For  this  they  who  felt  great  ideas  rising  within 
them,  opened  at  once  the  heart  to  those  chaste  emotions  of 
religion,  after  the  manner  of  the  Florentines  who  by  civil 
virtue,  by  daring  deeds,  and  by  words  of  magnificence  had 
emulated  pagan  Rome  and  now  in  every  instance  proved 
themselves  children  of  Catholic  Rome.  Dante,  it  seems 
without  doubt,  was  present  at  the  Jubilee.16  In  that 

"John  Villani,  L.  8,  chap.  36. 

M  "  So,  o'er  the  bridge,  the  concourse  to  convey, 

"  Which  flocks,  the  year  of  Jubilee,  to  Rome, 

"Means  are  devised  to  form  a  double  way, — 

"  That  on  the  one  side,  all  may  keep  in  front 


280 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


solemn  Papal  pardon;  in  that  judgment  of  Boniface, 
which  refused  the  spiritual  favors  to  those  in  contuma- 
cious rebellion  against  the  Church ;  in  that  meeting  of  the 
universal  Christian  people;  in  that  wonderful  display 
which  the  Roman  Pontificate  made  of  its  greatness,  we 
would  surmise  that  Dante  conceived  and  fashioned  the 
sublime  idea  of  the  Divina  Commedia.  Catholic  Rome 
spoke  to  his  heart  and  there  awakened  religious  inspira- 
tion, by  which,  leaving  the  wilderness  of  vice,  he  was 
moved  to  contemplate  and  sing  of  Hell,  Purgatory  and 
Paradise.  Pagan  Rome  spoke  to  his  mind,  and  gave  him 
as  a  guide  on  his  journey  the  poet  Virgil ;  and  that  fancy 
which  is  the  offspring  only  of  Italy,  joined  together  the 
mind  and  heart  so  strongly  and  lovingly,  that  Papal 
Rome  also  had  her  Virgil.  While  Boniface  was  dispens- 
ing spiritual  indulgences,  and  thereby  strongly  arousing 
the  Italians  to  great  works,  he  was  attentively  guarding 
the  Church,  both  as  a  congregation  of  the  faithful,  and  as 
the  sovereign  provider  for  the  civil  order.  As  we  ob- 
served previously,  the  new  and  rising  civilization  was 
threatened  by  an  external  and  internal  enemy.  The  first 
was  the  power  of  the  Turks,  and  the  latter  was  the  un- 
bridled power  of  princes,  and  the  rebellion  of  the  people 
which  the  rulers  could  not  check.  Boniface  opposed  both. 
He  set  about  to  remedy  the  evil  of  the  Turks.  In  Asia 
along  the  banks  of  the  river  Silinga  there  dwelt  a  savage 
people  called  Tartars  or  Mongolians.  Spondano  narrates 
many  things  about  their  origin,17  which  any  one  can  read 
in  the  authors  which  he  cites.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to 
know  that  they  were  of  a  most  fierce  nature,  but  on  the 
other  hand  they  had  not  been  spoiled  by  the  effeminacy 
of  cities  and  the  sensual  indulgences  of  the  Mahometan 
religion.  At  first  they  had  not  known  the  great  Prophet, 
and  practised  a  religion  of  their  own ;  but  afterwards  they 
were  incorporated  into  the  great  family  of  Islamism. 
Possessing  a  lively  imagination  like  every  Oriental  people, 
through  their  ignorance  they  could  be  led  to  the  perform- 
ance of  great  deeds  by  a  man  shrewd  and  ambitious,  who 
knew  how  to  make  use  of  this  pliable  people  by  the  lan- 

"  The  castle,  to  St.  Peter's  as  they  throng, — 

"All    on    the    other,    journey    to    the    Mount." — Dante    Infer.    XVIII 
Wright's  Translation.  "Ann.  1202  no.  X. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE   BONIFACE    VIII.  281 

guage  of  the  supernatural.  Such  a  man  precisely  was 
Temudhsin  Genghis-Khan,  a  man  very  brave  and  of  un- 
measured ambition,  who  knew  how  to  subdue  the  Mongo- 
lians and  lead  them  on  to  brilliant  victories.  These  were 
continued  by  their  descendants,  who  threatened  Europe  in 
the  XI Ilth  century  with  new  incursions  and  barbarities. 
But  Heaven  would  not  allow  the  old  wounds  made  by  the 
ancient  Barbarians  to  be  reopened  by  new  savage  inva- 
sions. For  after  having  devasted  Hungary,  and  intimi- 
dated Berlin,  they  turned  back  into  Asia.  By  the  sword 
they  became  masters  of  Bagdad,  Aleppo,  Damascus,  and 
even  pushed  on  as  far  as  Palestine.  This  people,  so  power- 
ful as  to  resist  the  power  of  the  Mohammedans,  awakened 
the  attention  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  and  they  used  every 
means  to  convert  them  to  the  true  faith,  so  as  afterwards 
to  get  them  to  do  what  the  Crusaders  could  not  and  would 
not  do — conquer  the  Turks.  Up  to  this  time  these  Bar- 
barians never  entered  the  minds  of  the  Pontiffs,  except 
to  be  considered  and  repelled  as  Turks.  In  fact  Innocent 
IV  wrote  a  constitution  to  repress  their  fury.18  Alexan- 
der IV  took  care  to  convoke  councils  against  the  Tartars, 
as  for  instance  in  Paris,19  in  Kavenna,20  in  London 21  and 
elsewhere.  Urban  IV  left  nothing  untried  to  arouse  a 
crusade  against  them.  Clement  IV  was  compelled  to  drive 
them  out  of  Hungary.  But  finally  the  Tartars  learned  by 
the  experience  of  the  Turks  that  power  which  the  Pope 
possessed  over  Christendom,  and  the  great  benefit  to  them 
which  a  friendship  with  the  Christians  would  be,  in  over- 
coming the  Turkish  power  with  which  they  were  contend- 
ing. So  a  certain  Abaka,  King  of  the  Oriental  Tartars, 
was  the  first  to  send  ambassadors  to  the  Roman  See,  seek- 
ing an  alliance.  Nicholas  III  accorded  them  a  most  joy- 
ful welcome,  and  was  assured  by  them  that  Abaka  offered 
to  unite  all  his  forces  with  those  of  the  Christians  against 
the  Saracens ;  also  that  the  uncle  of  King  Abaka,  by  name 
called  Quolibey,  Great  Khan  of  all  the  Tartars,  was 
already  a  Christian,  and  he  asked  that  missionaries  be 
sent  to  convert  his  subjects  to  the  faith  of  Christ.  Nicho- 

M "  Christianae  religionis  cultum."  M  Nangius.     Life  of  St.  Louis. 

*°  Rossi.  History  of  Ravenna.  L.  6. 
"Matthew  of  Westminster,  year  1261. 


282  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

las  III  wrote  letters,  which  Wadding  relates,22  to  both 
Abaka  and  Quolibey,  full  of  affection  and  congratulation ; 
and  he  sent  five  experienced  friars  of  St.  Francis  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Tartars.23  From  that  time  afterwards 
the  Popes  never  ceased,  and  especially  Nicholas  IV,  to 
send  often  friars  to  keep  alive  the  faith,  which  was  spread 
widely  among  that  barbarous  people.  The  Great  Khan 
and  the  other  tribal  chiefs  sent  frequent  embassies  to 
retain  the  Papal  benevolence.  The  Register  of  the  letters 
of  Nicholas  IV  records  many  directed  to  the  chiefs  of  that 
people.24  This  conversion  of  the  Tartars  to  the  Christian 
religion  would  have  assisted  greatly  the  affairs  of  the 
Holy  Land,  if  the  Christian  Princes  had  been  mindful  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  had  sent  liberators  of  it,  who 
would  have  found  in  the  Tartars  a  most  powerful  support. 
And  just  in  the  Pontificate  of  Boniface  there  was  a  most 
striking  proof  of  this.  In  the  course  of  the  year  1300 
Cassano,  Great  Khan  of  the  Tartars,  having  united  his 
forces  with  those  of  the  King  of  Armenia,  led  this  numer- 
ous army  against  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  in  order  to  take 
from  him  Palestine.  He  met  him  in  battle  near  the  city 
of  Emesa,  defeated  him,  and  drove  him  back  into  Egypt.25 
He  wished  to  advance  further,  but  having  received  the 
news  that  a  certain  relative  of  his  was  invading  Persia, 
he  withdrew  from  his  conquest,  leaving  a  portion  of  his 
army  in  Syria,  commanding  that  when  the  Christians 
arrived  from  the  West,  this  region  should  be  left  under 
their  sway.  He  believed  firmly  in  their  coming,  and  had 
sent  ambassadors  to  the  Pontiff  and  the  King  of  France, 
in  order  that  they  might  avail  themselves  of  this  favorable 
opportunity  for  relieving  the  Christians  in  the  Levant. 
It  is  beyond  doubt  that  Boniface  rejoiced  over  this  em- 
bassy and  the  good  tidings  it  brought.  The  thought  of 
conquering  the  Holy  Land  although  it  was  not  so  popular 
as  in  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Clermont,  yet  was  pre- 
dominant in  the  minds  of  the  Pontiffs,  and  especially  was 

**Annal  Min.  torn.  V.  page  36  and  following. 
28  Ab.  page  40  and  following. 

24  2  April  1288  "Habet"  to  Queen  Tultani.— 13  July,  1299,  to  Cobla  reat 
Cham.    "Gaudeamus": — 2  Aug.,  1291,  "  Exultat "  cor.     See  Aython  Hist. 
of  the  East.  chap.  45. — Maria  Sanuto  lib.  8.  part.  13,  8  Chap. 

25  Haython,  chap.  41. — Villani,  lib.  8,  chap.  35. — Ptolemy  of  Lucca  Ann. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  283 

it  ascendant  in  the  mind  of  Boniface.  He  summoned  a 
Council  in  Rome;  he  touched  upon  the  question  of  the 
Holy  Land;  he  besought  its  delivery,  and  dispatched  leg- 
ates to  the  Christian  princes  to  gather  money  and  men  for 
the  holy  cause.  France  had  always  been  the  first  to  heed 
the  cry  for  the  Holy  War,  and  was  the  special  defender  of 
the  Christian  cause  in  the  East.  So  Boniface  bearing  in 
mind  the  favorable  opportunity  which  Syria  in  Christian 
hands  offered,  immediately  and  especially  turned  to  Philip 
the  Fair,  asking  for  the  tithes  of  the  churches  that  were 
collected  in  his  kingdom  for  the  affairs  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  exhorting  him  not  to  be  behind  St.  Louis,  who  was  a 
martyr  to  this  cause.  But  Philip  held  Flanders  in  his 
clutches,  and  having  renewed  the  war,  to  carry  it  on  he 
needed  money,  and  so  did  not  care  to  hear  anything  about 
Tartars  or  Saracens.  He  refused  Boniface  the  tithes  that 
were  collected.  And  since  he  foresaw  that  these  injustices 
would  exasperate  the  redoubtable  mind  of  Boniface,  as  if 
to  hold  him  in  deference  not  only  did  he  extend  hospitality 
to  the  Colonna  refugees  in  his  kingdom,  but  he  lavished 
upon  them  public  favors  and  courtesies  in  order  to  bring 
disrespect  on  Boniface  and  cause  him  to  fear.  Thus  while 
Boniface  entreated  Philip  to  undertake  a  crusade  against 
the  Turks,  Philip  was  making  friends  with  those  who  were 
fugitives  because  of  a  Papal  crusade  against  them.  There- 
fore they  became  puffed  up  with  pride,  but  we  shall  soon 
see  how  shameful  will  be  their  outbreaks.  John,  Duke  of 
Brittany,  was  the  only  one  who  was  truly  prompt  to  the 
call  of  Boniface,  and  showed  himself  ready  not  only  to 
aid,  but  also  lead  an  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land.  He 
wished  to  start  in  June,  and  had  even  implored  the  usual 
indulgences,  which  Boniface  granted  profusely  to  the 
Crusaders.28  But  no  one  set  out.  Perhaps  the  sad  news 
from  Syria  had  then  arrived,  of  how  in  Cassano's  ab- 
sence the  Tartars  were  driven  out  by  the  treachery  of  a 
certain  Capehick,  guardian  of  the  city  of  Damascus,  and 
the  affairs  of  the  Christians  returned  to  their  former  sad 
condition.27  This  last  chance  of  liberating  the  Holy  Land 
from  the  hands  of  the  infidels  which  the  Christians  al- 
lowed to  pass,  was  followed  by  the  impossibility  of 

*?Lib.  6  ep.  278.     ^Raynaldus,   33. 
MHayton,   History   of  the   East.    Chap.    43, 


284  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

ing  any  more  Crusades.  The  powerful  and  crafty  Osman, 
son  of  Erdogrul,  another  conqueror  who  had  extended  his 
dominion  over  the  mountain  districts  of  Asia  Minor  and 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Taurus,  began  to  make  himself  for- 
midable by  his  conquests.  The  retreat  of  Cassano,  Chief 
of  the  Tartars,  and  the  imbecility  of  the  Byzantine  Em- 
peror opened  to  this  audacious  Turk  the  way  to  an  empire, 
which,  for  largeness  of  territory  and  prolonged  existence, 
is  unique  in  history.  He  made  the  foundation  of  it  in 
Bithynia,  fixing  his  seat  in  the  city  of  Prusa  in  Mysia  at 
the  foot  of  Mt.  Olympus.  Such  was  the  foundation  of  the 
terrible  Ottoman  Empire,  and  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  which 
from  time  to  time  dashes  itself  against  the  remains  of  a 
once  grand  edifice  in  ruins  on  its  banks,  so  it  stifled  the 
expiring  breath  of  the  Grecian  power  as  far  as  to  place 
Mahomet  II  on  the  throne  of  Constantine.  Islamism  then 
being  predominant  in  the  East,  it  began  to  spread  its 
roots  even  in  the  West,  and  pollute  those  beautiful  shores 
of  Europe  which  look  towards  Asia.  This  was  the  bar- 
barity that  threatened  all  Europe  for  many  centuries,  and 
which  the  Popes  checked  by  the  holy  wars.  This  empire 
still  exists  solely  because  the  division  of  the  spoils  could 
never  be  satisfactorily  adjusted  by  the  would-be  sharers. 

The  Turkish  Empire  arose,  and  the  civil  power  of  the 
Pontiffs  declined,  yet  slowly,  because  the  shoulders  of 
Boniface  were  strong  enough  to  support  it  still.  He  saw 
himself  surrounded  by  a  fickle  people,  as  were  the  Italians, 
and  he  had  a  presentiment  of  the  struggle  that  was  to 
ensue.  Of  Florence  we  shall  speak  later;  let  us  return  to 
the  affairs  of  Sicily.  We  have  seen  how  she  neglected  the 
admonitions  of  Boniface.  Philip,  Prince  of  Taranto, 
through  a  juvenile  imprudence  was  defeated,  and  taken 
captive  in  the  battle  of  Falconaria.  Now  this  reverse, 
which  Charles  II,  so  to  speak,  went  in  search  of,  greatly 
grieved  the  mind  of  Boniface,  already  saddened  by  the 
sudden  return  of  James  to  Aragon,  after  his  victory  over 
Frederick  at  Cape  Orlando.  The  bad  faith  of  James  of 
Aragon,  the  weakness  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  and  the  con- 
stancy of  Frederick  and  the  Sicilians  would  have  de- 
pressed the  minds  of  other  men,  but  not  that  of  Boniface. 

The  Papal  coffers  had  been  replenished  by  offerings  dur- 
ing the  Jubilee,  and  the  Guelph  party  in  Italy  offered  help 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  285 

in  money  and  men;  Boniface  at  the  same  time  saw  his 
hopes  revived  in  Charles  of  Valois,  whom  he  made  his 
champion.  Thus  encouraged  he  renewed  the  attempt  to 
expel  Frederick  from  Sicily.  Frederick  had  received  pow- 
erful assistance  from  Ghibelline  Genoa,  and  for  that  rea- 
son Boniface  by  mighty  efforts  strove  to  sever  their  union 
with  the  Sicilians.  He  threatened,  he  stormed,  he  im- 
plored the  aid  of  James  and  even  of  Philip  the  Fair 
against  them,28  but  Genoa  would  not  yield.  Finally 
whilst  two  millions  of  the  faithful  were  joyfully  availing 
themselves  of  the  Papal  indulgences  in  .Home,  these 
Genoese  were  the  subjects  of  most  severe  chastisement, 
which  seemed  over  severe  in  the  time  of  such  great 
pardon  and  indulgence.  Boniface  hurled  the  solemn  ex- 
communication against  Oberto  and  Corrado  Doria,  Cor- 
rado  Spinola,  and  their  relations  and  retainers,  and  placed 
an  interdict  over  the  entire  territory  of  Genoa,  threaten- 
ing them  with  further  penalties  upon  their  estates,  if  by 
Ascension  Day  they  did  not  sever  their  connection  with 
the  Sicilians.29  The  Genoese  were  frightened,  and  they 
made  a  treaty  with  Charles  of  Naples.  That  weakened 
the  force  of  the  opponents,  and  to  increase  his  own  Boni- 
face had  since  January  complained  loudly  against  that  ill- 
advised  expedition  of  Philip,  Prince  of  Taranto,  in  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  the  Legate  Gerard,  Bishop  of  Sabina ; 30 
and  he  filled  the  minds  of  Charles  and  Loria  with  such 
terror,  that  they  repaired  to  Rome  in  person  to  pacify  him. 
In  the  liveliest  manner  he  explained  to  Gerard  the  hope  he 
had  of  seeing  this  affair  come  to  a  happy  termination,  by 
means  of  the  fleet  he  expected  from  James.  In  fact  at  the 
same  time  he  had  written  to  James,  that  he  expected  assis- 
tance even  from  Genoa;  that  the  Knights  Templars  and 
those  of  St.  John,  by  promises  of  particular  favors,  had 
been  induced  to  wage  war  in  Sicily;  that  the  Guelph 
cities  would  send  him  a  choice  and  well-provisioned  body 
of  cavalry ;  finally  he  recommended  him  to  hold  himself  in 
readiness  and  to  be  full  of  hope. 

But  whilst  Boniface  was  encouraging  the  Legate  to 
war,  Charles  appeared  to  be  inclined  to  peace.  The  im- 
prisonment of  his  son  Philip  distressed  him,  and  he  was 
tired  of  war.  Frederick  knew  this,  and  he  used  it  to  his 

89  Raynaldus,  n.  12,  13.  »>  Raynaldus  1300,  n.  10. 


286  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

advantage.  He  sent  him  envoys  to  draw  up  an  agreement, 
but  both  sides  feared  Boniface.  They  would  rather  treat 
in  secret,  in  order  that  he  might  not  thwart  their  negotia- 
tions. Charles,  like  a  child  under  the  rod  of  a  rigid 
pedagogue,  made  the  treaty,  and  trembled.  But  Boniface 
discovered  the  plot,  and  he  scolded  him  severely,  both 
because  Sicily  concerned  the  Pope  more  immediately,  and 
because  of  Charles'  poor  judgment.  The  Pope  spoke 
harshly  to  him :  "  That  he  had  still  present  in  mind  that 
"  which  Charles  was  known  to  have  done  in  the  treaty 
"  concluded  with  James,  at  the  siege  of  Gaeta,  without 
"  having  consulted  the  Papal  legates ;  that  he  remembered 
"  also  that  other  treaty,  an  astonishing  monument  of 
"  prudence  and  wisdom,  which  he  made  with  the  same 
"  James  for  the  liberation  of  his  son ;  long  experience  had 
"  taught  him  that  when  Charles  was  left  in  his  affairs  a 
"  little  to  himself  alone,  it  led  to  nothing  but  disaster. 
"  The  unfortunate  expedition  of  his  son  Philip,  was  a 
"  clear  case  in  point.  Where  was  his  prudence,  where  his 
"  respect  for  the  Church?  To  meet  in  a  secret  conference 
"  on  a  galley  with  the  legates  of  the  common  enemy  Fred- 
"  erick,  and  not  allow  one  word  or  deed  to  be  known." 
And  he  ended  this  severe  rebuke  by  displaying  to  him  the 
fetters  of  excommunication  if  he  persisted  in  that  evil 
course  of  wishing  to  act  alone  and  in  secret.31  This  lan- 
guage addressed  to  Charles  and  that  used  with  the  Legate 
reveal  the  mind  of  Boniface  exasperated  by  the  condition 
of  the  affairs  of  Sicily,  and  at  the  same  time  full  of  vigor 
to  surmount  obstacles.  On  the  14th  of  June  Loria  ob- 
tained a  signal  victory  over  the  Sicilian  fleet  in  the  waters 
of  Ponza ;  but  because  little  fruit  was  derived  from  it,  and 
because  the  Guelph  party  in  Italy  was  not  prosperous,  the 
mind  of  Boniface  was  not  jubilant,  but  rather  filled  with 
great  anxiety  and  a  study  of  means  to  meet  the  situation. 
We  come  now  to  speak  of  Tuscany,  but  it  is  necessary  to 
prepare  the  mind  with  some  facts,  because  they  are  strong 
means  of  instruction  to  posterity. 

It  is  clear  the  civil  Pontificate  entirely  rested  in  that 
party  of  the  people,  which  was  Guelph,  and  for  that  reason 
the  Guelph  character  was  that  of  the  Popes.  Nay  more, 

ailb.   No.   12 "ex   suae   fatuitatis   impulse   in   timore 

periculi  pouissee."— 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  287 

this  party  never  had  any  other  truly  natural  head  than  the 
Pope.  The  clash  of  parties  far  from  being  harmful,  was 
useful  to  Rome.  Friction  quickened  life;  and  either  los- 
ing or  victorious  the  Guelph  party  was  ever  active,  and 
the  Popes  wrere  in  need  of  this.  Therefore  an  idleness  too 
prolonged,  or  a  superiority  too  marked  over  a  rival  fac- 
tion was  prejudicial,  either  because  there  was  lacking  the 
stimulus  to  keep  them  active,  or  because  inactivity  was 
productive  of  corruption  and  schism  in  the  party.  When 
Guelphism  had  reached  that  state  of  division,  then  it 
could  be  surely  maintained  that  the  civil  Pontificate,  feel- 
ing itself  dissolving  and  shaken  in  its  foundation,  would 
also  have  a  presentiment  of  the  decline  of  its  power.  Boni- 
face was  destined  to  have  this  presentiment,  and  Florence 
was  to  inspire  him  with  it.  This  powerful  republic  ex- 
perienced all  those  vicissitudes  to  which  states  are  sub- 
ject, no  matter  what  may  be  the  form  or  the  solidity  of  the 
government,  or  the  condition  of  their  citizens;  for  imper- 
fection involves  and  penetrates  everything  here  below. 
Power  is  a  divine  thing;  but  its  manner  and  location  in 
human  society  is  not  divine.  This  indetermination  of 
circumstances  and  the  excessive  cupidity  of  men  engender 
rebellions  in  states.  These  revolutions  at  times  are  neces- 
sary, to  reveal  human  infirmity,  and  disconcert  the  confi- 
dence of  legislators  in  the  sanctity  of  laws,  as  well  as  that 
of  princes,  in  the  empire  of  force.  We  have  said  rebellions 
are  necessary,  because  it  is  not  possible  to  prevent  at 
times  wealth  or  power  from  becoming  centered  in  one 
party  in  a  state  and  by  stagnation  causing  moral  infirmi- 
ties, much  as  in  the  human  body  physical  maladies  are 
caused  by  derangement  of  humors.  In  order  to  arouse 
and  dissipate  this  sluggish  and  pestilential  mass,  Heaven 
allows  these  civil  revolts,  which  like  storms  are  not  de- 
sirable, yet  they  are  a  means  which  a  free  Providence  em- 
ploys for  the  common  good.  In  a  monarchy  they  are  of 
rare  occurrence,  but  more  terrible  in  character ;  on  the  con- 
trary more  frequent  in  a  republic,  but  not  so  terrible. 
For  in  the  former  reverence  for  him,  who  holds  in  his 
hands  the  entire  power,  restrains  and  retards  the  fury 
of  the  people,  but  confined  for  a  long  time,  it  breaks  out 
more  fiercely.  In  republics  civil  liberty  and  the  division 
of  power  render  the  sudden  uprisings  less  difficult  because 


288  HISTORY    OP    POPE   BONIFACE    yill. 

of  few  obstacles,  but  also  less  imposing.  Therefore  after 
the  audacious  but  yet  honest  tribune,  Giano  della  Bella, 
had  been  banished  from  Florence  in  1295,  the  nobles  of 
the  city  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  power  and  splendor. 
Peace  reigning  and  commerce,  which  thrived  with  that  in- 
dustrious people,  had  greatly  increased  the  wealth  of  the 
citizens.  There  were  at  that  time  families  who  by  their 
riches  and  the  number  of  their  adherents  could  have  ex- 
ercised the  influence  which  at  a  later  period  the  Medici 
family  acquired.  Among  these  families  were  the  Donati 
and  the  Cerchi.  The  head  of  the  former  was  Corso,  the 
latter  Veri.  Their  deeds  and  the  origin  of  their  disgrace- 
ful feuds  are  well  told  by  Compagni  and  Villani.  It  suf- 
fices for  us  to  know  well  that  they  displayed  towards  one 
another  hostile  feelings,  and  through  envy  at  times  they 
took  up  arms.32  Now  while  these  two  chieftains,  Corso 
and  Veri,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  public  were  warring 
against  each  other,  there  appeared  from  without  another 
cause  of  dissension  and  the  fire  which  was  enkindled  in 
Florence  assumed  frightful  proportions.  The  family  of  the 
Cancellieri  of  Pistoja,  by  the  perpetration  of  a  savage  and 
most  cruel  deed,  became  divided  into  two  factions,  called 
the  Whites  and  the  Blacks.  As  was  customary  the  whole 
city  took  sides,  citizens  lost  their  senses  and  murdered 
one  another.  Florence  as  the  head  of  the  Guelph  party 
hastened  to  effect  a  peace;  she  assumed  the  sovereignty 
over  Pistoja,  and  rashly  confined  the  two  factions,  the 
Whites  and  the  Blacks,  within  the  confines  of  the  city's 
walls.  This  was  only  adding  fuel  to  the  flame  that  burned 
between  the  Cerchi  and  the  Donati.  The  Blacks  united 
their  interests  to  those  of  the  Donati,  and  the  Whites  to 
those  of  the  Cerchi;  and  there  began  in  the  city  a  furious 
war,  between  these  two  rival  factions.  Florence  was 
Guelph,  and  for  that  reason  this  division  was  a  blow  at 
the  very  heart  of  Guelphism;  and  the  Ghibelline  party 
profited  thereby,  because  the  moderate  Guelphs  were  nec- 
essarily obliged  to  incline  towards  the  Ghibelline  party, 
and  thus,  as  Villani  narrates,  the  Whites,  or  that  of  the 
Cerchi,  was  the  more  powerful  faction.  Hence  staunch 
Guelphs  were  sent  to  Pope  Boniface  beseeching  him  to 
take  in  hand  the  unfortunate  affairs  of  Florence,  and  ad- 

B  Raynaldus,  year  1300,  no.  15. 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII.        289 

just  them,  otherwise  there  would  be  nothing  left  of  the 
Guelphs  save  the  memory,  on  account  of  the  advantage 
which  the  Whites  with  the  Ghibellines  possessed.  Boni- 
face was  deeply  grieved  at  this  news.  He  restrained  their 
animosity,  and  sought  to  control  their  minds,  in  order  to 
reconcile  them.  So  he  sent  for  Veri,  head  of  the  Cerchi 
and  the  Whites,  and  by  the  promise  of  every  spiritual  and 
temporal  favor,  he  endeavored  to  persuade  this  proud 
soul  to  make  peace  with  the  Donati.  But  stubborn  and 
whimsical,  he  replied,  that  he  was  not  at  war  with  anyone, 
and  he  left  without  complying  with  the  request  of  the 
Pope.  When  Veri  had  returned  to  Florence,  the  two 
factions,  agitated  and  threatening  hitherto,  finally  came 
to  blows,  and  a  bloody  civil  war  ensued.  The  Whites 
were  victorious;  the  Blacks  became  alarmed  and  invoked 
the  aid  of  the  Pope.33 

In  June  of  1300  Matthew  Acquasparta,  Friar  Minor, 
Cardinal  of  Porto,  as  Legate  of  Boniface  to  the  Kepublic 
arrived  unexpectedly  in  the  disturbed  city,  to  pacify  it.34 
Their  angry  feelings  were  quieted,  and  their  reception  of 
him  was  hearty  and  becoming.  He  effected  a  peace,  and 
wished  to  establish  it  firmly  and  with  justice  to  all.  He 
asked  from  the  Commune  of  Florence  the  authority  to  ar- 
range affairs,  distributing  the  offices  of  the  city  equally 
between  the  two  parties.  But  the  Whites  who  possessed 
the  major  part,  would  not  for  the  sake  of  peace  relinquish 
any.  They  rejected  the  wise  and  temperate  advice  of  the 
Legate  with  great  anger;  they  refused  to  obey,  and  they 
stirred  up  fresh  rage.  The  Legate  discouraged  and  irri- 
tated by  the  brutal  obstinacy  of  the  Whites,  departed 
from  Florence,  justly  leaving  it  under  an  interdict.  When 
he  was  gone,  the  factions  flew  at  each  other  more  fiercely, 
disgracing  their  city  by  the  shedding  of  fraternal  blood.35 

When  Cardinal  Acquasparta  was  in  the  Roman  Court 
making  a  report  of  his  unsuccessful  embassy,  Boniface 
foresaw  the  grave  evils  produced  by  these  new  factions, 
which,  although  they  were  contained  within  the  walls  of 
Florence,  nevertheless  had  a  most  injurious  effect  on  the 
entire  Guelph,  or  Papal  party.  Recent  events  in  the 
Papal  province  of  Umbria  confirmed  this  foresight  of 
Boniface.  Frederick,  Count  of  Montefrelto,  son  of  Friar 

"Villani,  Book  VIII.   "Raynaldus,  24  Epist.  16,  lib.  8.  "See  Doc.  G. 


290  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    YIII. 

Guy;  Hubert  Malatesta;  and  Uguccione  Faggiula,  power- 
ful Ghibellines,36  ruled  in  that  province.  The  latter,  a 
famous  warri6r,  exercised  there  a  very  great  sway,  and 
being  head  of  Gubbio,  he  had  expelled  all  the  Guelphs. 
Boniface  dispatched  Napoleon  Orsini,  Governor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Spoleto,  to  reinstate  them  in  the  city.  Orsini 
succeeded  in  his  design,  being  aided  by  the  Perugians. 
He  entered  the  city  accompanied  by  the  Guelphs,  but  the 
victory  was  disgraced  by  rapine  and  murder.  Even  the 
cities  of  the  Romagna  were  in  commotion,  but  there  was 
no  bloodshed.  Matthew  Acquasparta,  who  became  in 
October  Papal  Governor,  quelled  the  riot.37 

These  agitations  gave  Boniface  much  to  think  of,  and 
caused  him  great  apprehension.  This  was  further  in- 
creased by  the  clamors  which  the  Blacks  made  in  his  court, 
who  were  magnifying  maliciously  the  injustice  of  the 
Whites,  and  the  reports  which  they  were  spreading  were 
more  dangerous  "  Than  the  point  of  the  sword,''  as  Com- 
pagni  relates.38  The  Colonna  refugees  were  always  caus- 
ing alarm,  and  the  Blacks  were  making  use  of  this  in  order 
to  cause  Boniface  to  be  suspicious  of  the  assistance  which 
the  rising  Ghibelline  party  would  be  to  them.  This  made 
him  expedite  matters,  and  execute  a  project  which  the 
Pope  had  contemplated  with  regard  to  Charles  of  Valois, 
namely  to  make  him  a  peacemaker  in  Tuscany.39  In  that 
good  thought  Compagni  found  hidden  a  most  wicked 
proposition,  the  suppression  of  the  Whites.  Compagni 
was  a  White  Guelph.  The  resolution  was  taken  with  the 
advice  of  Corso  Donati  himself  and  the  more  powerful 
agreement  of  Geri  Spini  and  his  associates,  bankers  of  the 
Pope.40  It  is  never  good  policy  to  invite  a  foreigner  to 
meddle  in  the  affairs  of  one's  country.  The  despair,  the 
impossibility  of  otherwise  obtaining  order  can  alone  legi- 
timize this  appeal.  In  factions  this  despair  is  always  on 
the  side  of  the  vanquished.  So  the  Ghibellines  when 
beaten  invoked  the  aid  of  the  German  emperors,  and  the 
Guelphs  when  oppressed  turned  to  the  French.  As  the 
Pope  himself  appealed  to  the  latter,  this  circumstance 
rendered  the  invitation  of  the  Guelphs  less  dangerous  than 

*•  Chron.  Dino  Comp.  L.  II.  *7  Chron.  Caesen.  S.  R.  I.  T.  14. 

•"John  Villani,  Book  8,  Chap.  43.     *•  Chron.  S.  R.  I.  T.  IX  book  VII, 
*°Chr.  S.  R.  I.  T.  lib.  11. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  291 

that  of  the  Ghibellines.  For  the  Pope  was  so  powerful  as 
to  make  use  of  the  French  prince  only  as  an  instrument, 
and  the  authority  of  the  priesthood  was  sufficient  to  put 
sense  into  the  head  of  Charles  if  he  aspired  to  supreme 
power.  But  the  Ghibellines,  after  having  invoked  the  aid 
of  a  powerful  foreigner,  were  not  able  to  prevent  this 
charitable  assistance  from  degenerating  into  an  insolent 
tyranny.  Boniface  knew  this,  and  no  one  as  much  as  he 
had  the  strength  to  restrain  a  foreigner  who  refused  to 
obey  his  orders.  But  either  to  reassure  the  great  number 
of  Italians  who  thought  that  the  presence  of  a  second 
French  prince  among  them  would  be  unbecoming,  or  in 
order  to  induce  the  French  clergy  to  give  him  the  tithes 
for  this  expedition,  he  wanted  to  justify  by  weighty 
reasons  the  coming  of  Charles,  and  the  levy  of  the  tithes. 
He  did  this  in  a  letter  expressly  addressed  to  the  French 
clergy.  In  it  he  said  that  Sicily  was  still  in  revolt  against 
the  Church,  and  the  other  ecclesiastical  towns  were  in 
disorder;  that  Tuscany  was  so  disturbed  as  to  entail  all 
Italy;  that  the  Holy  Land  was  clamoring  for  aid  to  liber- 
ate it  from  the  hands  of  the  infidels;  that  Charles  was  to 
come  as  peacemaker  into  Italy;  and  afterwards  go  to  lib- 
erate the  Christians  in  the  East.41  Then  to  induce  Charles 
to  willingly  accept  this  expedition,  besides  the  grant  of 
those  tithes,  he  dazzled  his  eyes  with  the  charm  of  empire, 
by  insinuating  that  the  imperial  throne  was  vacant. 
Meanwhile  affairs  grew  worse ;  Corsi,  always  at  the  side  of 
the  Pope,  kept  importuning  him  to  let  him  see  the  longed- 
for  Charles  of  Valois.  New  Papal  legates  went  to  hasten 
the  coming  of  the  future  peacemaker.  The  reader  need 
not  be  curious  to  know  if  it  was  a  pleasure  for  Charles  to 
come  to  Italy;  for  what  foreign  prince  ever  felt  it  a  pain 
to  enter  this  beautiful  country?  He  welcomed  the  legates 
most  cordially,  who  urged  him  to  make  haste.  Immedi- 
ately he  sounded  the  trumpets,  ordering  the  banners  to  be 
unfurled,  and  the  knights  to  assemble,  and  post-haste  he 
set  out  for  discordant  Italy.42  Charles  came  with  a  good 
number  of  soldiers,  and  the  news  of  his  near  arrival  differ- 
ently affected  various  parts  of  Italy.  Florence  and  the 
court  of  Boniface  were  the  places  where  the  minds  were 
most  agitated.  The  Blacks  at  Home  had  been  successful 

n  John  Villani,  L.  8,  ch.  42.  **  See  Document  H. 


292  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

in  securing  Charles  as  peacemaker  by  plying  all  their  de- 
vices, counsel  and  money.  The  Whites  did  not  desist  from 
working  most  sedulously  in  the  Koman  Court,  and  frus- 
trating the  designs  of  their  adversaries.  The  Whites  sent 
an  embassy  to  Boniface,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Dante 
Alighieri.  This  man,  to  use  the  words  of  that  eloquent 
writer  Boccaccio,  was  then  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame.  The 
heart  of  this  virtuous  citizen,  whom  heaven  adorned  with 
the  highest  intelligence,  was  grieved  at  seeing  his  country 
so  wickedly  divided,  and  he  foresaw  the  misfortunes  which 
always  follow  in  the  train  of  this  scourge.  By  word  and 
deed  he  strove  to  soften  the  anger  of  the  parties  and 
pacify  them;  but  having  failed  in  his  purpose,  he  wanted 
to  sever  all  connections  with  public  affairs,  and  bid  them 
an  eternal  farewell.  But  the  love  of  his  country  restrained 
him ;  and  perhaps  also  being  mindful  of  his  own  worth  he 
could  not  close  his  heart  to  the  sweetness  of  glory,  which 
arises  from  the  virtuous  administration  of  public  affairs, 
he  concluded  to  remain,  and  resolved  to  follow  the  party 
of  the  Whites. 

When  Florence  was  certain  of  the  coming  of  Charles, 
the  Whites  were  startled  and  feared  for  their  liberty. 
They  assembled  in  council,  and  decided  to  send  ambassa- 
dors to  Boniface,  that  he  might  stop  the  coming  of  the 
foreigner  or  retard  him,  and  in  any  case  to  inspire  him 
with  peaceful  dispositions  towards  them.  And  in  that 
assembly  Dante  being  unanimously  chosen  as  head  of  the 
embassy,  he  unbecomingly  gave  utterance  to  the  follow- 
ing: "  If  I  go,  who  remains?  If  I  remain  who  will  go?  " 
At  all  times  such  words  sound  badly  from  the  mouth  of 
any  man,  and  are  detestable  in  the  mouth  of  a  statesman 
in  a  time  of  fierce  factions.  They  were  displeasing  even 
to  his  friends.43  The  embassy  strengthened  by  that  of 
Siena  set  out;  and  it  was  to  act  quickly,  so  as  to  give  no 
time  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Blacks.  But  a  certain  Ubal- 
dino  Malvolti  a  Sienese  Judge  and  a  member  of  the  em- 
bassy, injured  the  opportunity  of  the  journey.  He  stopped 
on  the  way  to  demand  from  the  Florentines  jurisdiction 
over  a  castle  which  he  said  belonged  to  him.  This  delay 
for  a  private  gain  damaged  that  of  the  community,  as  the 

-  History  of  Pistoja,  S.  R.  I.,  torn.  XI  377  B. 


HISTORY   OF    POPE   BONIFACE    VIII.  293 

ambassadors  did  not  arrive  in  time.  When  the  legates 
arrived  in  Rome  they  were  admitted  into  the  private 
chambers  of  the  Pope,  who  when  he  had  them  alone  said 
to  them  secretly:  "Why  are  you  so  stubborn?  Humble 
"yourselves  before  me.  I  tell  you  truly  that  I  have  no 
"  other  object  in  view  but  your  peace.  Return  at  once  two 
"  of  you,  and  they  will  have  my  blessing  if  they  obtain 
"  obedience  to  my  will." 44  The  secrecy  of  this  conversa- 
tion showed  the  fear  of  causing  suspicions  among  the 
Blacks  who  were  in  the  court.  We  know  not  what  the 
terrible  Dante  said.  But  it  is  certain  that  if  Boniface 
could  have  foreseen  those  creations  that  were  to  be  pro- 
duced by  the  imagination  of  that  ambassador,  exiled  after- 
wards through  the  stupidity  of  Charles  of  Valois,  and  the 
hideousness  of  the  Hell  into  which  the  poet  was  to  hurl 
him,  we  believe  that  the  Whites  would  have  gained  their 
cause.  For  the  thrust  of  a  sword  is  not  so  agonizing  to 
the  body,  as  is  to  a  generous  soul  the  anathema  of  the 
word  which  is  eternalized  by  the  immortal  genius  of  him 
who  utters  it. 

The  Florentine  legates  were  still  in  Rome,  and  in  Flor- 
ence the  arrival  of  Charles  was  awaited.  It  pleased  none 
as  citizens,  it  pleased  many  as  partisans.  However,  just 
as  one  trembles  when  strong  and  painful  remedies  are  to 
be  applied,  so  hearts  were  trembling  in  unhappy  Florence. 
It  seemed  the  presence  of  the  foreigner  softened  the  angry 
minds.  Men  of  temperate  habits  and  with  love  for  peace 
and  their  country  were  chosen  for  the  government  of  the 
city,  among  whom  was  that  charming  character,  Dino 
Compagni.  These  men  undertook  to  distribute  the  offices 
in  common  among  the  factions.  The  Blacks  began  to 
make  advances  towards  the  Whites,  who  held  the  sover- 
eignty, under  the  leadership  of  Compagni.  But  they 
could  not  revive  a  fraternal  peace,  as  mutual  mistrust  and 
suspicion  still  influenced  them,  which  in  factional  differ- 
ences ever  stifle  the  breath  of  good  feeling.  In  fact  while 
the  one  was  making  advances  to  the  other,  and  in  exterior 
politeness  there  seemed  a  hope  of  peace,  in  both  parties 
minds  were  timorous  and  they  dared  not  trust  one  an- 
other. In  these  friendly  negotiations  it  must  be  said  that 
the  greater  frankness  and  sincerity  were  displayed  by  the 

**  Bocc.  Life  of  Dante. 


294  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

party  of  the  Whites,  who  wished  to  see  peace  ensue  from 
the  spontaneous  agreement  of  the  citizens,  whereas  the 
Blacks  desired  it  through  the  ever  dangerous  ministry  of 
a  foreigner.  The  ambition  of  the  Blacks  overcame  the  holy 
affection  they  had  for  their  unhappy  country.  The  first 
messengers  from  Charles  appeared  in  Florence.  The  do- 
mestic troubles  could  have  been  concealed  from  them,  but 
the  Blacks  spoke  openly  to  them,  and  extolled  to  the  skies 
Charles  who  was  at  hand.  Words  of  servile  flattery  freely 
fell  from  their  lips,  a  sign  of  drooping  spirits  and  of  a 
hopeless  despair.  The  question  whether  Charles  should  be 
welcomed  or  not  was  agitated.  The  opinion  of  the  Blacks 
prevailed,  and  Charles  was  welcomed  by  an  embassy,  and 
was  even  furnished  with  money  to  increase  his  resources. 
Such  was  the  action  of  the  party  of  the  Blacks,  but  not 
of  that  model  of  civic  moderation,  Dino  Compagni,  who, 
in  every  way  the  equal  of  the  most  virtuous  citizen  of 
either  the  Grecian  or  Roman  republics,  surpassed  them 
all  by  that  nobility  of  heart  which  the  Christian  religion 
alone  can  instil.  If  there  is  a  man  to  whom  all  Italy  owes  a 
solemn  debt  of  gratitude,  that  man  is  Compagni.  He  wrote 
only  the  history  of  Florence;  but  the  events  of  Florence 
are  of  such  a  nature,  and  are  narrated  by  him  in  such  a 
manner,  that  they  reproduce  in  outline  an  image  of  the 
whole  of  Italy  in  every  epoch,  and  they  are  a  source  of 
salutary  instruction.  Statues  have  been  erected  to  actors 
and  dancers,  but  not  a  stone  has  been  raised  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Father  of  Italian  history,  Dino  Compagni.  See- 
ing that  the  efforts  to  make  the  Frenchman  return  to  his 
country  were  hopeless,  Compagni  would  at  least  have  him 
not  find  the  citizens  in  riot,  but  peaceful.  For  there  is 
nothing  more  favorable  to  tyranny,  than  the  intervention 
of  a  stranger  in  the  affairs  of  a  city  that  is  rent  by  fac- 
tions and  especially  of  a  stranger  who  feigns  honorable 
and  peaceful  pretexts.  He  made  one  last  effort,  which 
would  not  have  failed,  if  in  the  heat  of  civil  tumult,  men 
had  been  men.  In  the  church  of  St.  John  he  assembled  a 
parliament  of  many  and  excellent  citizens  whom  he  urged 
in  eloquent  terms  that  laying  aside  all  hatred  they  should 
oppose  to  the  foreign  maker  of  an  uncertain  peace,  a  cer- 
tain domestic  peace,  and  they  should  swear  on  the  baptis- 
mal font  that  such  would  be  done.  We  cannot  refrain 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIH.         295 

from  quoting  his  words :  "  Dear  and  valiant  citizens,  you 
"  who  have  all  received  holy  Baptism  at  this  same  font, 
"  reason  forces  and  constrains  you  to  love  one  another 
"  because  you  are  brothers,  and  also  because  you  possess 
"  the  noblest  city  in  the  world.  Among  you  there  has 
"  arisen  some  enmity  in  the  struggle  for  the  offices,  which 
"  my  companions  and  I  on  oath  have  promised  to  distrib- 
"  ute  equally  among  you.  This  foreign  lord  is  coming, 
"  and  it  is  becoming  for  us  to  show  him  honor.  Lay  aside 
"  your  enmities  and  make  peace  with  one  another,  in  order 
"  that  he  may  not  find  you  divided.  For  the  love  and 
"  benefit  of  your  city  pardon  and  forget  all  offences  and 
"  evil  desires,  and  upon  this  sacred  font  where  you  re- 
"  ceived  holy  Baptism,  swear  to  a  good  and  lasting  peace, 
"  in  order  that  the  French  prince  may  find  the  citizens  all 
"  united."  Most  touching  words  coming  from  a  very  holy 
heart.  These  very  few  words,  by  an  impressiveness  of 
form,  altogether  Italian ;  by  the  force  of  feeling  and  a  cer- 
tain heavenly  unction,  surpass  the  many  words  so  loudly 
launched  from  the  height  of  foreign  tribunes.  And  Oh! 
would  that  they  were  engraven  on  Italian  minds!  For 
from  these  alone  they  would  learn  how  manliness  of  spirit 
in  being  a  true  citizen  and  a  virtuous  magistrate  is  not  en- 
gendered by  the  example  of  Greeks  and  Romans,  but  by 
religion  which  before  Rome  and  Greece  knew  how  to  place 
man  in  society  and  educate  him  in  virtue.  Then  they  all 
swore;  but  many  violated  the  oath.  At  this  the  good 
Compagni's  heart  was  deeply  grieved,  as  if  his  charitable 
expedient  had  been  an  added  scandal.  From  him  and 
Villani  it  is  clear  that  the  Blacks,  elated  over  the  arrival 
of  Charles,  were  puffed  up  exceedingly  with  pride. 

While  minds  were  thus  agitated  in  Florence,  Charles 
appeared  before  Boniface  in  Anagni  in  September  of  this 
year.  On  seeing  Charles  honorably  received  by  Boniface 
at  this  time,  the  reader  might  be  inclined  to  believe  that 
Boniface  had  sanctioned  the  excesses  of  the  Blacks,  so 
much  deplored  by  Compagni.  But  it  must  be  remembered 
that  their  excesses  were  abhorred  by  Boniface.  He  in 
truth  desired  peace,  and  he  well  knew  that  the  disorders 
of  the  Blacks  far  from  achieving  it  only  prevented  it.  The 
struggle  was  Guelph  against  Guelph,  and  the  Pope  as  the 
head  of  Guelphism  did  not  care  to  be  the  head  of  two 


296        HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

bodies,  but  of  one ;  and  for  this  reason  he  loved  to  see  har- 
mony existing  among  the  Guelphs,  not  only  as  Vicar  of 
Christ,  but  also  as  a  civil  potentate.  The  calling  of 
Charles  was  the  fault  of  the  Whites,  who  were  not  inclined 
to  make  an  equal  distribution  of  the  offices,  by  reason  of 
which  the  efforts  of  Cardinal  Acquasparta  entirely  failed. 
Unarmed  and  feeble  he  did  not  succeed  in  his  honest  pur- 
pose, so  Charles  called  to  attain  it  by  arms.  And  Boni- 
face, who  knew  Charles,  did  not  let  him  come  prepared  to 
do  evil,  because  five  hundred  knights  (the  number  of  the 
forces  which  Charles  led)  would  be  insufficient  for  that; 
but  only  to  add  strength  to  the  efforts  of  the  Legate.  The 
mind  of  Boniface  will  appear  clearer  in  the  course  of  this 
narrative. 

Charles  came  then  to  Anagni  to  kiss  the  Pope's  foot,45 
after  having  a  taste  of  Italian  gold,  which  the  Marquis 
Azzo  d'Este  presented  to  him  with  great  honors  as  he 
passed  through  Modena.46  Charles  II  of  Naples  also  came 
to  Anagni,  as  he  placed  the  greatest  hopes  in  Charles  of 
Valois  to  recover  Sicily.  Before  going  to  effect  a  peace  in 
Tuscany,  he  wished  to  wage  war  in  that  island,  longing  to 
pass  over  into  Greece,  to  place  himself  as  Emperor  on  the 
throne  of  Byzantium,  having  married  Catherine,  daughter, 
of  Philip,  titular  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Baldwin,  rightful  Emperor.  If  the  French 
prince  regarded  Tuscany  already  pacified,  Sicily  recov- 
ered, Greece  conquered,  and  perhaps  even  the  Holy  Land 
freed  from  the  infidels,  it  is  not  surprising.  The  titles  of 
Vicar  of  the  Empire;  Prefect  of  the  Roman  Church;  the 
peacemaker  of  Tuscany;  the  jurisdiction  which  the  Pope 
gave  him  over  the  Duchy  of  Spoleto,  over  the  March  of 
Ancona,  the  province  of  Emilia,  and  other  territory ; 48 
the  ecclesiastical  tithes  which  he  collected  plentifully  in 
Italy,  in  Corsica,  in  Sardinia,  in  France,  in  the  principal- 
ity of  Achaia,  in  the  Duchy  of  Athens,48  besides  the  money 
furnished  him  by  the  Blacks,  were  of  a  nature  to  inspire 
him  with  lofty  opinions  of  himself ;  but  it  will  be  seen  how 
he  deceived  the  hopes  of  his  adherents  and  failed  in  the 
designs  he  had  himself  conceived.  Postponing  the  expedi- 
tion to  Sicily  until  spring,  Charles  with  his  barons  set 

45  Dino  Compagni.  **  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  in  Ann.  brev. 

"Chron.  Esten.  S.  R.  I.  T.  XV.  ^  Raynaldus,  year  1301,  no.  12. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  297 

out  for  Florence,  which  they  entered  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber, being  welcomed  with  all  honor  by  the  citizens.49  His 
first  imprudence  was  to  allow  himself  to  be  followed  by 
the  banished  Blacks,  who  swelled  the  number  of  his  sol- 
diers to  twelve  hundred  horsemen,  and  to  take  up  their 
abode  in  the  house  of  the  Frescobaldi,  a  family  belonging 
to  the  party  of  the  Blacks,  and  to  fortify  it.  This  was  not 
a  peaceoffering  to  the  opposite  party,  but  a  sign  of  war. 
Therefore  the  Whites  grew  suspicious  and  the  Blacks  be- 
came elated.  The  Priors,  and  among  them  Compagni,  did 
not  desist  from  that  calmness  and  honesty  of  counsel 
which  should  ever  attend  magistrates  in  time  of  great 
crises.  They  formed  a  parliament  of  forty  citizens,  chosen 
from  both  parties,  to  conduct  affairs  in  such  calamitous 
times.  But  the  remedy  was  useless,  because  some  had  lost 
energy  and  others  had  a  criminal  intent,  and  because  the 
Blacks  wanted  the  victory  to  be  complete  by  demanding 
the  dismissal  of  the  Priors  and  the  recall  of  those 
banished.60 

The  imprudence  of  Charles  and  the  excesses  of  the 
Blacks  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Boniface,  with  whom 
still  were  the  ambassadors  of  the  Whites,  among  whom 
was  Dante.  These  men  remained  round  about  the  Pope 
to  show  him  effectively  by  the  irresistible  argument  of 
facts  how  harmful  Charles  was  to  Florence,  and  how  un- 
just and  arrogant  were  their  opponents  the  Blacks.  Boni- 
face charged  two  of  these  ambassadors,  Maso  Minerbetti 
and  Corazza,  to  go  and  speak  to  the  rulers  of  Florence 
and  such  was  the  power  of  this  communication  that  the 
latter  obeyed  on  the  spot.  They  wrote  to  the  Pope  to  send 
them  Gentile  of  Montefiore,  a  Cardinal  of  Holy  Church,  to 
arrange  affairs.  The  obedience  which  Boniface  exacted 
was  to  put  in  execution  the  distribution  of  the  offices, 
which  had  been  requested  in  vain  by  the  Legate,  Matthew 
Acquasparta.51  From  this  it  is  clear  that  the  work  of 
Charles  was  displeasing  to  Boniface ;  neither  did  he  desire 
the  ruin  of  the  Whites,  nor  approve  the  excesses  of  the 
Blacks.  These  latter,  having  had  an  inkling  of  the  move- 
ments of  their  opponents  with  the  Pope,  brutally  broke  out 

* Raynaldus  15  Ep.  Book  7,  196.       "John  Villani,  chap.  58,  Book  8. 
"Dino  Compagni. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

into  all  kinds  of  violence.  The  Priors  reported  everything 
to  the  Pope,  and  Dante  pressed  the  matter  vehemently. 
This  being  told  to  the  Blacks,  they  destroyed  all  hope  of 
accord.  For  after  they  obtained  the  desired  community 
of  the  offices,  three  Priors  being  chosen  from  one  of  the 
parties,  and  three  from  the  other,  they  were  not  even  then 
satisfied.  They  wanted  the  ascendency  in  order  to  crush 
their  opponents. 

They  dared  to  attempt  their  object  because  Charles 
acted  neither  as  a  loyal  nor  as  an  honest  man.  They  ex- 
hibited publicly  the  instruments  of  justice  to  terrify  the 
evil-doers,  but  secretly  they  circulated  money  to  corrupt 
the  ministers  of  justice  itself.  Charles  was  not  ignorant 
of  these  corrupt  practices  so  hostile  to  the  public  safety. 
He  knew  their  source,  because  the  Blacks  made  no  secret 
of  their  boast :  "  We  have  a  sovereign  amongst  us.  The 
"  Pope  is  our  protector.  Our  adversaries  are  equipped 
"neither  for  war  nor  for  peace.  They  have  no  money, 
"  and  the  soldiers  have  not  been  paid."  Their  boastings 
were  followed  by  deeds.  On  the  fourth  day  of  November 
the  Blacks  armed  themselves ;  Charles  took  up  arms  under 
the  pretext  of  restraining  criminals,  and  the  Florentines 
being  apprehended,  he  sent  his  French  soldiers  as  guards 
over  the  gates  of  the  sixth  district  of  the  city,  beyond  the 
Arno.  At  the  head  of  this  guard  Charles  placed  himself 
and  by  oath  he  swore  to  defend  the  gate,  and  hold  it  at  the 
disposal  of  seigniory  of  the  town.  But  his  oath  was  a 
wicked  perjury.  He  opened  the  gates  to  Gherarduccio 
Buondelmonti  with  many  of  those  that  had  been  banished, 
and  gave  the  signal  for  open  lawlessness  to  the  Blacks. 
He  desired  the  mastery  of  the  city,  and  he  obtained  it. 
He  swore  to  keep  it  in  a  peaceful  condition  and  yet  he 
allowed  the  turbulent  Corso  Donati  to  enter,  and  swore 
another  time  that  he  did  not  know  of  his  entrance  at  all, 
and  wanted  to  hang  Donati.  But  he  knew  it,  and  allowed 
him  to  do  all  that  he  did,  on  account  of  which  the  city 
was  all  in  a  tumult;  the  Whites  betrayed;  the  Blacks 
unrestrained  for  the  perpetration  of  every  evil  deed;  the 
Priors  dismissed  from  office,  and  for  some  days  all  rule 
ceased.  Meanwhile  Charles  the  peacemaker  through  an 
imbecile  malice,  peacefully  beheld  men  murdered,  houses 
burned,  rapine  and  civil  fury.  With  hypocrisy  and  per- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  299 

jury  he  created  new  Priors,  all  of  the  party  of  the  Blacks, 
and  of  the  worst  reputation. 

Boniface  was  absent  in  body  but  in  thought  he  was 
close  to  this  villany  which  the  Peacemaker  fostered. 
Dante  still  in  Rome  in  a  certain  way  too  must  have  shown 
by  his  silence  alone  how  vain  was  the  hope  that  was  cen- 
tered in  Charles  of  Valois,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  he 
must  have  recalled  those  peaceful  negotiations  of  Car- 
dinal Acquasparta,  which  failed  of  success  through  the 
obstinacy  of  his  own  party,  the  Whites,  who  were  the 
cause  of  the  coming  of  Charles.  Boniface  at  once  sent 
Cardinal  Acquasparta  a  second  time  as  legate  to  Flor- 
ence more  to  remedy  the  evil  of  Charles  than  that  of  the 
Blacks.  For  although  in  the  letter  in  which  he  appoints 
the  Legate,  he  styles  Charles  a  man  tried,  good  and  skil- 
ful in  arms,  who  entered  the  province  of  Tuscany  with 
prudence,  yet  he  addressed  some  words  to  the  Cardinal 
which  say  that  Charles  was  in  sore  need  of  counsel  and 
prudence  in  conducting  these  affairs  with  moderation  and 
tact.52 

This  was  an  excellent  precaution  of  the  Pontiff,  but  too 
late.  The  people  were  too  exasperated,  and  the  Blacks  too 
puffed  up  with  pride.  The  Legate,  an  unarmed  peace- 
maker, and  a  sincere  seeker  of  peace,  effected  some  sort 
of  an  agreement.  This,  however,  was  only  a  particular 
arrangement  which  was  founded  on  an  alliance  between 
the  Cerchi,  Ademari,  Donati  and  Paggi.  This  could  not 
be  lasting  while  there  remained  in  the  city  that  focus  of 
discord,  that  is  to  say  Charles,  around  whom  all  the  fury 
of  the  Blacks  assembled.  In  fact  when  Acquasparta  un- 
dertook to  distribute  in  common  the  offices,  just  as  he 
found  the  Whites  intractable  in  the  previous  year,  so  at 
this  time  the  Blacks  were  most  inexorable,  and  despairing 
of  a  remedy,  he  ended  his  legation  by  placing  mad  Flor- 
ence under  an  interdict.  Hardly  had  he  departed  than 
the  Blacks  more  wrathful  than  before  attacked  the 
Whites ;  and  although  they  did  not  accomplish  with  the  as- 
sistance of  Charles  a  general  expulsion  of  their  rivals,  yet 
they  continued  an  abominable  system  of  confiscations  and 
of  arbitrary  banishments.53  This  interdict  was  placed  over 
Florence  through  the  incorrigible  wickedness  of  Charles 

a  Dino  Compagni.  M  See  Document  at  end  of  work. 


300 


HISTORY    OF    POPE   BONIFACE    VIII. 


and  the  Blacks,  so  these  latter  ought  to  have  felt  it  deeply, 
if  indeed  this  species  of  men  can  suffer  qualms  of  con- 
science. After  the  scandals  which  he  occasioned,  Charles 
went  to  Rome,  and  we  do  not  know  with  what  effrontery, 
and  why,  he  presented  himself  before  Boniface.  We  are 
certain  that  he  requested  money,  and  Boniface  replied : 
"  That  he  had  placed  him  in  a  golden  fount."  These  words 
could  not  proceed  from  a  tranquil  soul,  but  were  the  cry 
of  a  heart  indignant  at  the  infidelity  of  Charles  in  fulfill- 
ing his  mission  and  at  his  insatiable  avarice.  Tyranny 
in  governments  engenders  conspiracies,  formed  either  by 
the  oppressed  or  the  oppressor.  The  oppressed  form  them 
to  put  an  end  to  the  evil,  the  oppressors  for  greater  profli- 
gacy of  rule.  The  former  are  real  to  destroy  the  op- 
pressor, the  latter  are  imaginary  to  find  a  means,  with  an 
appearance  of  justice,  to  destroy  him  who  could  restrain 
and  check  the  tyranny.  Charles  and  the  Blacks  in  Flor- 
ence certainly  did  carry  on  a  very  bad  government  and 
made  the  party  of  the  Whites  groan.  We  know  not 
whether  the  conspiracy  to  murder  Charles,  which  made 
so  much  commotion  at  that  time,  was  real,  that  is  to  say, 
the  work  of  the  oppressed,  or  imaginary,  that  is  to  say, 
invented  by  the  oppressors,  to  expel  the  former  with  an 
appearance  of  justice.  It  is  certain  that  after  certain 
nightly  and  sudden  judicial  meetings  held  by  Charles  im- 
mediately after  he  had  returned  from  Kome,  a  furious 
storm  burst  on  the  heads  of  the  party  of  the  Whites,  of 
which  more  than  six  hundred  had  their  goods  confiscated, 
their  property  burnt,  and  the  punishment  of  exile  inflicted 
on  them,  by  reason  of  which  "  they  wandered  about  the 
world  some  here  and  some  there  suffering  from  want," 
The  crime  of  the  exiles  was  a  conspiracy  against  the  peace- 
maker. Villani  tells  us  that  not  the  Whites  but  a  wicked 
baron  of  Languedoc  formed  the  conspiracy,  who  forged 
letters  bearing  their  seal,  in  which  he  disclosed  the  con- 
spiracy and  carried  it  to  Charles.54  The  threads  of  these 
villanies  were  held  by  the  Blacks.  Peter  Ferrant,  as  the 
Baron  was  called,  had  woven  them.  But  it  cannot  be 
alleged  that  Charles  was  ignorant  at  all  of  this  dark  plot 
as  to  become  stupefied  at  the  sight  of  these  letters,  as  a 

M  Villani,  L.  VIII. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  3Q1 

thing  unsuspected;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  be  much 
nearer  the  truth  to  affirm  that  he  had  a  full  and  entire 
knowledge  of  the  treachery  of  which  the  poor  Cerchi  and 
all  the  Whites  were  the  victims.  He  had  Boniface  on  his 
side,  who  called  him  not  only  to  be  a  peacemaker  in 
Florence,  but  also  and  perhaps  more  especially,  to  be  a 
warrior  in  Sicily.  He  pressed  him  to  undertake  this  last 
expedition,  and  Charles  had  to  go.  But  to  depart  and 
leave  the  Whites  in  their  own  homes  in  Florence,  seemed 
to  him  to  be  their  restoration.  He  must  then  act  quickly, 
strike  them,  and  lead  them  to  final  destruction.  In  this 
he  was  instigated  by  the  Blacks,  who  approved  it,  because 
it  was  of  vital  importance  to  them.  And  just  as  even  the 
wicked  love,  if  not  justice  itself,  at  least  an  appearance 
of  it,  they  imaged  conspiracies  or  provoked  them  by  dark 
treachery,  which  is  the  more  expeditious,  and  the  more 
honest  way  apparently,  to  lead  to  destruction  those  whom 
they  fear,  and  of  keeping  an  opinion  of  justice  for  some 
time  on  their  side.  For  some  time,  but  not  forever,  be- 
cause history  is  the  faithful  revealer  of  wickedness.  At 
this  juncture  in  Florence  there  thundered  forth  a  voice 
truly  sublime,  because  it  came  from  the  depth  of  an  in- 
corrupt heart.  Dino  Compagni,  than  whom  a  more  beauti- 
ful character  Florence  never  had,  was  bewailing  the  mis- 
erable spectacle  presented  by  his  country,  which  after 
having  disclosed  her  wounds  to  a  stranger,  received  not 
the  remedies  that  would  heal  them,  but  the  points  of  the 
sword  which  opened  them.  Compagni  revealed  to  poster- 
ity the  infamy  of  the  wretched  citizens  who  were  to  blame 
for  these  misfortunes.  The  reader  will  pardon  us  if  we 
enrich  this  narrative  with  a  wealth  of  Grecian,  but  yet 
Christian,  eloquence.  "  O,  wicked  citizens,  procurators  of 
"  the  destruction  of  your  city,  whither  have  you  led  it ! 
"  And  you,  Amanto  di  Rota  Beccanugi,  disloyal  citizen, 
"  wickedly  you  turned  to  the  Priors  and  endeavored  by 
"  the  threats  to  get  the  keys  from  them :  see  what  your 
"  malice  has  brought  on  us.  O  Donato  Alberti,  where  is 
"  your  arrogance,  you  who  hid  yourself  in  a  vile  kitchen 
"  of  Nuto  Marignolli !  And  you,  Nuto,  provost  and  senior 
"  from  your  quarter  of  the  city,  because  of  animosity  of 
"  the  Guelph  party  you  have  allowed  yourself  to  be  de- 
"  ceived !  O  Sir  Geri  Spini,  satiate  your  soul ;  eradicate 


302  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  the  Cerchi,  in  order  that  you  may  live  safe  from  the 
"  price  of  your  perfidy !  O  Sir  Lapo  Saltarelli,  menacer 
"  and  oppressor  of  the  rulers,  who  did  not  serve  you  in 
"your  disputes,  where  did  you  arm  yourself?  In  the 
11  Pulci  palace,  by  remaining  in  concealment?  O  Sir 
"  Berto  Frescobaldi,  since  you  showed  such  friendship 
"  for  the  Cerchi,  and  made  yourself  a  mediator  in  their 
"  quarrels,  for  borrowing  from  them  twelve  thousand 
"florins,  where  have  you  merited  from  them?  How  do 
"  you  now  appear  in  the  eyes  of  the  public?  O  Sir  Man- 
"  etto  Scali,  who  desired  to  be  considered  so  great  and 
"  feared,  believing  yourself  at  all  times  a  lord,  why  did 
"you  take  up  arms?  Where  is  your  following?  Where 
"are  your  barbed  horses?  You  have  allowed  yourself  to 
"  submit  to  those  who  in  comparison  with  you  were  con- 
"  sidered  as  nothing.  O  you  commoners,  who  longed  for 
"  the  offices,  and  appropriated  the  honors  and  occupied 
"  the  palaces  of  the  rulers,  where  is  your  defence?  It  is 
"  in  falsehoods,  at  one  time  promising,  at  another  dis- 
"  sembling ;  condemning  your  friends  and  praising  your 
"  enemies  for  the  sole  purpose  of  self-preservation.  There- 
"  fore  weep  over  us,  and  over  your  city."  Such  were  the 
sentiments  of  Compagni  within  Florence.  Dante  from 
without  gave  utterance  to  another  kind  of  eloquence, 
that  of  an  exile.  Like  those  Numidians,  who  while  flee- 
ing turned  round  to  shoot  their  arrows,  he  discharged  at 
Charles  of  Valois  a  most  poisonous  dart.  He  revealed  the 
plebeian  origin  of  the  Capets,  and  then  puts  on  the  lips 
of  Hugh  Capet  himself  scorching  words  against  his 
descendant  Charles  of  Valois.55  And  having  taken  a  fare- 
well look  at  Florence,  rather  than  weep,  in  the  same  man- 
ner that  Compagni  was  comforted,  he  composes  his  feel- 
ings with  a  smile  of  bitter  sarcasm,  whose  eloquence  has 
never  been  equalled;  he  flails  with  the  lash  of  cutting 
derision  his  ungrateful,  but  infortunate,  country.56 

"  Leonard  Aretino  says  that  he  saw  these  letters  a  century  later  in  the 
Florentine  archives,  and  found  them  assuredly  forgeries.  See  Balbo,  Life 
of  Dante. 

68      "  Hugh  Capet  was  the  name  I  had  on  earth : 
The  Philips  and  the  Louis,  who  bore  sway 
In  France  of  late,  from  me  derive  their  birth: 
My  Sire  at  Paris  plied  the  butcher's  trade." 
He  strikes  Charles  of  Anjou: 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII  3Q3 

The  banishment  of  the  White  Guelphs  filled  all  Italy 
with  compassion.  There  had  been  other  banishments,  but 
this  one  seemed  more  cruel  because  it  was  effected  by  a 
foreign  prince,  the  number  was  greater,  and  because  vir- 
tuous and  upright  citizens  were  the  sufferers.  These  men 
were  dispersed,  roaming  here  and  there  throughout  Italy, 
stripped  of  all  their  property,  driven  from  that  sweetest 
of  nests  their  native  place,  and  their  wives  and  children 
were  torn  from  their  bosoms.  They  cursed  Charles  the 
peacemaker,  and  Boniface  who  called  him,  for  their  ruin. 
As  their  misfortunes  filled  all  hearts  with  pity,  Charles 
and  Boniface  were  condemned  to  execration.  They  had 
been  so  prescribed  and  so  brutally  expelled  by  the  Black 
Guelphs  that  they  broke  the  barriers  which  separated 
them  from  the  Ghibelline  party,  and  wishing  to  no  longer 
share  the  Guelph  name  with  the  Blacks  they  became  all 
Ghibelline.  Dante  Alighieri  was  among  these,  no  more  a 
Guelph,  but  a  Ghibelline;  upon  him  Charles  of  Valois 
seemed  to  inflict  all  his  rigor,  because  the  poet  had  op- 
posed his  coming  most  strenuously  of  all  the  Florentines, 
and  had  denounced  his  acts  in  the  Papal  court,  where  he 
sought  a  remedy.  He  was  involved  not  only  in  the  general 
condemnation  by  the  fact  of  the  conspiracy,  but  in  two 
other  preceding  condemnations.57  He  departed  from 

"  Charles  entered  Italy,  and  for  amends, 

"  A  victim  of  young  Conradin  made, 

"  And  sent  to  Heaven  Aquinas  for  amends." 

Then  he  lashes  Charles  of  Valois: 

"  I  see  from  France,  ere  many  years  have  flown, 
Another  Charles  Italy's  peace  invade, 
Thereby  to  make  his  race  more  fully  known. 
Unarmed  he  goes,  save  with  that  lance  alone 
Which  Judas  tilted  with:  and  thus  he  bears 
So,  that  e'en  now  is  Florence  overthrown. 
Land  shall  he  reap  not;  but  of  shame  and  guilt 
The  heavier  load,  as,  light  the  heart  he  swears, 
While  blood  around  him  is  profusely  spilt." 
He  puts  all  this  in  the  mouth  of  Hugh  Capet. 

Purg.  Canto  XX  V.  70.     (Wright's  Translation). 
"After  having  spoken  of  all  Italy,  he  turns  to  Florence: 
"  My  Florence !  well  contented  may'st  thou  be 
With  this  digression — thee  it  toucheth  not ; 
Thanks  to  the  people  who  advise  thee. 
Many  have  justice  in  their  hearts;  but  long 


304  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    yill. 

Florence  leaving  behind  his  wife  and  children  and  a  small 
portion  of  his  dowry  saved  by  him  during  the  civil  dis- 
turbances, and  which  scantily  supported  his  dear  ones. 
He  took  away  with  him  none  of  those  things  which  are 
wont  ordinarily  to  assist  men  in  misfortune.  But  the 
brilliant  renown  of  his  virtue  and  genius  preceded  him, 
and  opened  the  courts  of  Princes,  and  what  is  more  gave 
him  an  entrance  into  the  hearts  of  those  whom  Heaven 
destined  to  taste  the  pleasure  of  pitying  the  misfortunes  of 
most  distinguished  mortals.  In  his  worn-out  and  battered 
body  he  bore  enclosed  a  mind  similar  to  that  of  Homer 
and  Virgil;  and  in  his  heart  a  wrath,  and  such  a  wrath 
as  in  men  of  genius  enkindles  the  fever  of  creation. 
When  he  had  eaten  bitterly  the  bread  of  strangers,  when 
he  ascended  and  descended  the  stairs  of  others,  his  ter- 
rible imagination,  being  fertilized  by  grief,  conceived  and 
brought  forth  that  grand  Epic  poem,  The  Divine  Comedy. 
Aristotle  would  also  have  called  it  an  Epic  poem,  if  he 
had  known  that  those  cantos  did  not  contain  the  unity 
of  one  fact  or  of  one  people,  but  the  unity  of  the  whole 
Middle  Ages,  united  by  the  warmth  of  its  faith  and 
strength  of  its  passions;  divided  by  those  noisy  jolts  of 
virtue  and  vice,  and  by  the  hostility  of  the  elements,  which 
war  against  each  other,  they  would  strike  each  other  mor- 
tally, and  from  this  the  edifice  of  modern  civilization  would 
finally  arise.  Homer  sang  of  Greece,  Virgil  of  Rome,  but 
Dante's  song  was  of  the  whole  world. 

Being  made  most  famous  by  those  cantos,  not  only  in 

Delay,  through  fear,  the  meditated  shot; — • 

Thy  people  have  it  on  the  very  tongue. 

Many  refuse  the  burdens  of  the  state; — 

Thy  people  answer  with  officious  haste 

Ere  they  are  asked :  '  I  bow  me  to  the  weight.' 

Then  be  thou  joyful,  for  good  cause  hast  thou; — 

Thou  rich!  Thou  peaceful!  thou  with  wisdom  graced! 

That  truth  I  speak,  the  facts  themselves  avow." — 

Then  rendering  the  veil  of  bitter  irony,  he  concludes: 
"  If  thou  rememberest  well,  and  art  not  blind, 
Thou'lt  see  thyself  like  one  distraught  with  pain, 
Who  on  her  bed  of  down,  no  rest  can  find, 
But,  ever  turning,  seeks  relief  in  vain." 

Purg.  canto  VI  V.  127,  etc. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  395 

the  estimation  of  the  Ghibelline  party,  but  of  all  Italy, 
he  anathematized  his  enemies,  and  especially  those  who 
had  brought  about  his  misfortunes,  and  all  minds  centered 
around  him.  Those  who  shared  with  him  the  sentence 
of  exile,  or  factional  opinion,  coincided  with  him  by  re- 
venge, and  others  by  pity.  For  fully  nine  times  he  poured 
forth  his  vengeance  on  Boniface.  He  begins  by  plunging 
him  into  the  dark  hole  of  those  guilty  of  simony.  He 
snarls  at  him  as  a  traitor;  as  a  wolf;  as  unmindful  of  the 
Holy  Land ;  as  an  usurper  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  and  we 
know  not  what  else,  in  such  a  manner  that  like  Hector 
dragged  many  times  around  the  walls  of  Troy,  so  was 
Boniface  in  the  Poem  of  Dante  cruelly  dragged  through 
the  Inferno  by  the  angry  imagination  of  Dante.  Losing 
all  reverence  for  the  power  of  the  Keys,  he  enters  furiously 
the  Papal  Court.  He  strips  the  ministers  of  their  mantles, 
he  reveals  there  human  failings  and  now  strikes  them 
with  a  scourge,  then  galls  them  by  the  poison  of  a  most 
terrible  sarcasm.  Then  passing  blindly  from  men  to 
things,  he  irreverently  aims  a  blow  at  that  Pontificate 
which  in  his  calm  moments  he  had  respected,  and  had 
loved  in  the  peaceful  times  when  he  was  a  Guelph.  The 
suspicion  of  the  simoniacal  intrusion  of  Boniface  into  the 
Papacy  proclaimed  from  such  a  powerful  source,  bore  a 
semblance  of  truth;  the  severe  sentence  passed  on  the 
Colonnas  appeared  a  manifest  injustice;  the  calling  of 
Charles  appeared  a  horrible  betrayal  of  the  Guelph  party. 
So  the  friends  of  Pope  Celestine,  the  Colonnas,  the  exiled 
White  Guelphs,  and  all  the  Ghibellines  formed  but  one 
body  closely  united,  and  sworn  enemies  of  Boniface.  As 
if  the  phalanx  was  not  sufficiently  strong,  Philip  the  Fair 
came  to  join  it  and  offer  it  the  support  of  arms  and  the 
royal  power.  All  these  arose  in  a  threatening  attitude, 
not  to  judge  but  to  condemn  Boniface.  Quick  and  direful 
vengeance  was  visited  on  the  magnanimous  sinner,  which 
he  would  be  obliged  to  bear  for  a  long  time,  for  the  op- 
probrium which  Philip  the  Fair  had  cast  on  him  was  too 
grievous,  the  soul  of  Dante  which  guarded  this  oppro- 
brium was  too  noble  to  easily  remove  it. 

Dante,  and  by  this  name  we  express  all  Ghibelline 
Italy,  strengthened  by  the  party  of  the  White  Guelphs,  was 
a  man  who  was  all  bloody  by  the  outrages  of  the  Blacks; 


306  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

and  as  one  wounded  by  the  sword  does  not  rush  against 
the  steel,  but  against  the  arm  that  brandished  it,  so  he 
consigned  to  Hell  the  Black  Guelphs  his  enemies,  and 
venting  his  hatred  for  Charles,  he  stopped  to  become  more 
furious  against  Boniface  as  the  primary  cause  of  his  mis- 
fortunes. Boniface  had  called  and  urged  Charles  to  come. 
He  did  not  dismiss  him  when  he  found  him  unsuited  for 
making  peace,  and  did  not  prevent  his  wicked  deeds 
against  the  White  Guelphs.  Such  were  the  faults  of 
Boniface  in  the  eyes  of  Dante.  But  judgment  could  not 
be  passed  fairly  by  one  who  was  banished  from  his  coun- 
try, despoiled  of  his  possessions,  and  above  all  excluded 
from  taking  part  in  public  affairs,  which  were  adminis- 
tered by  a  foreigner  and  an  opposing  faction.  His  grief 
was  too  intense,  and  his  wrath  too  impetuous.  This  im- 
possibility of  judging  calmly  and  dispassionately  was 
shared  not  only  by  those  who  suffered  but  also  by  those 
who  sympathized  with  them.  For  this  reason  the  cry  that 
was  raised  against  Boniface  in  Italy  was  almost  universal. 
And  chroniclers  could  not  free  themselves  from  the 
dominion  of  an  opinion  so  general  and  so  manifest.  That 
blind  vengeance  which  was  frequently  practised  in  Italy 
during  the  disturbances  between  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibel- 
lines  was  exercised  by  Ghibelline  writers  against  Boni- 
face. And  if  it  is  folly  to  think  that  with  justice  and 
calm  minds  men  animated  by  factional  hatred  could  com- 
mit murder,  now  in  ambush  and  now  in  open  places,  there 
is  less  reason  to  believe  that  a  faction  so  cruelly  hurt, 
could  justly  and  with  a  dispassionate  spirit  have  esti- 
mated the  character  of  this  pontiff.  We  must  recognize 
in  Dante  and  all  the  enemies  of  Boniface  this  human 
nature  which  in  the  heat  of  passion  loses  that  calmness 
and  clearness  of  reason  which  is  so  necessary  in  judging 
men,  and  especially  those  who  by  reason  of  the  power  they 
exercised  are  found  enclosed  in  the  mysterious  reasons  of 
state.  These  reasons  are  not  apprehended  by  anyone  but 
in  the  course  of  centuries,  and  for  that  reason  only  after  a 
long  time  men's  real  characters  are  laid  bare  to  history. 
Boniface  did  not  wish  to  see  the  Guelphs  divided,  but 
united  and  in  peace.  He  wished  to  recover  Sicily,  a  fief 
of  the  Church,  which  he  could  not  renounce.  The  calling 
of  Charles  was  decided  on  in  desperation  of  all  other 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  3Q7 

means,  as  we  have  seen,  to  accomplish  these  two  ends. 
While  Charles  deceived  his  hopes  in  Florence,  he  could  not 
check  him,  because  he  had  become  too  powerful  by  reason 
of  the  party  of  the  Blacks,  of  whom  he  had  been  made 
head.  He  wished,  however,  to  do  so,  and  his  will  was 
manifest  in  his  acquiescing  to  the  propositions  of  the 
Whites,  in  the  second  legation  of  Cardinal  Acquasparta, 
and  in  the  interdict  which  he  placed  over  Florence.  Boni- 
face afterwards  could  not  expel  him  and  send  him  back 
to  France,  because  he  would  have  ruined  the  affairs  of 
Sicily,  which  he  was  sure  could  be  restored  by  the  power 
of  Charles ;  and  he  would  have  lost  all  the  money  collected 
from  the  tithes,  and  from  the  pious  offerings  of  the  faith- 
ful with  which  he  had  enriched  the  French  prince  to 
carry  on  the  war  in  Sicily,  and  afterwards  in  the  Holy 
Land,  The  affair  of  the  Holy  Land  in  the  beginning  of 
the  XIV  century,  if  less  grave  than  in  the  previous  cen- 
tury, was  still  of  importance  and  seriously  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  public.  Moreover,  precisely  at  this  time 
the  quarrel  with  Philip  the  Fair  began,  and  the  solution 
of  the  difficulty  still  appeared  possible.  To  embitter 
Charles  was  the  same  as  to  precipitate  matters  to  that 
sad  state  which  followed  later,  and  which  at  that  time 
there  was  hope  of  arresting. 

Here  now  is  Boniface  obliged  by  these  reasons  to  re- 
main an  idle  spectator  of  the  wickedness  of  Charles  and 
the  Blacks,  and  the  unjust  calamities  of  the  Whites.  So 
inactive  was  he,  that  he  appeared  to  the  Whites  not  only 
abetting  but  even  urging  on  Charles  to  their  ruin,  as  Vil- 
lani  thought.58  But  could  he  rejoice  in  the  dissolution  of 
the  Guelph  party?  Could  he  be  glad  of  the  increase  of  the 
Ghibellines?  Could  he  be  contented  with  that  portion  of 
the  Guelphs,  called  the  Blacks?  Could  he  continue  to 
trust  in  Charles  urging  him  on  to  such  wickedness,  which 
would  make  him  hateful  to  all  Italy,  and  an  unseemly 
captain  of  the  Church  in  Sicily?  We  do  not  hesitate  to 
acknowledge  that  Boniface  was  the  material  cause,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  injustices  of  the  Blacks,  but  not  the  moral 
cause.  For  the  moral  cause  was  entirely  the  Whites  when 
they  rebelled  against  Cardinal  Acquasparta  in  his  first 

MBalbo.  Life  of  Dante. 


308  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

legation,  and  the  Blacks  in  the  second  legation.  Dante 
himself  sheds  a  bright  light  on  this  fact,  when  suspending 
for  a  moment  his  personal  hatred,  when  recovering  his 
right  reason  he  turns  to  Italy  and  vigorously  charges  the 
misfortune  under  which  she  groaned  to  the  discord  among 
her  own  children,  which  Boniface  evidently  strongly 
labored  to  stifle  in  the  interest  both  of  others  and  of  him- 
self. But  the  reasons  which  we  have  submitted  to  the 
reader  could  not  be  apprehended  by  a  man  who  was  car- 
ried away  by  the  whirlwind  of  a  party  so  arrogant  as  the 
Ghibelline  was,  and  which  was  cruelly  harassed  by  the 
opposite  party  to  which  the  Pontiff  belonged.  Therefore 
as  later  observers  of  those  facts,  let  us  pity  in  Dante  this 
human  nature,  which,  mortally  provoked  by  anger  flies 
into  a  passion  and  rejects  all  explanations;  let  us  pity 
these  irreverences  towards  the  Vicar  of  Christ.  Such  feel- 
ings did  not  proceed  from  the  philosophical  wantonness 
of  our  epoch,  nor  from  corruption  of  heart,  but  from  the 
blind  passion  of  anger,  which  transformed  him  into  an- 
other man.  But  Dante  was  always  the  same,  Italian  and 
thoroughly  Catholic.  In  fact  afterwards  hardly  had  it 
been  made  known  to  him  that  Boniface  had  been  insulted 
by  two  ruffians,  Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  than  the 
fever  which  made  him  delirious,  immediately  disappeared ; 
there  leaped  up  in  his  heart  a  fountain  of  filial  love,  which 
extinguished  within  him  the  desire  of  revenge,  and  con- 
ducted him  to  the  feet  of  that  Boniface,  whom  he  no 
longer  abhorred  as  simoniacal  and  criminal,  but  whom  he 
revered  not  only  as  Vicar  of  Christ,  but  as  Christ  him- 
self.59 And  in  this  action  we  find  in  Dante  the  model  of 
every  Italian  who  is  truly  Catholic.  Now  if  it  be  allowed 
a  historian  to  ascend  to  the  sphere  of  poetry,  we  will  ven- 
ture to  assert  that,  if  these  two  noble  souls,  Boniface  and 
Dante,  had  met  pure  and  freed  from  the  imperfections  of 
this  lower  nature,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  would  have 
been  united  in  the  kiss  of  pardon,  and  the  Papal  Keys 
would  have  been  placed  as  a  sign  of  peace  on  the  volumes 
of  the  Divina  Commedia.  This  latter  was  the  fruitful 
source  of  Italian  civilization.  The  Keys  did  not  bring 
forth  the  civil  independence  for  the  attainment  of  which 

09Villani.  Book  8,  Chap.  48. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  3Q9 

Gregory  VII  and  Innocent  III  exerted  themselves.  God 
rendered  them  barren  in  civil  effects,  in  order  to  punish 
those  who  would  have  enjoyed  them.80 

After  having  spoken  of  the  wrath  of  poets,  we  now  come 
to  that  of  princes.  But  it  is  necessary  that  we  first  dis- 
miss that  ineffective  peacemaker,  Charles  of  Valois.  The 
spring  having  set  in,  the  time  appointed  for  the  expedi- 
tion to  Sicily,  Charles  departed  from  Florence,  loaded 
with  infamy,  and  set  out  for  Naples.  After  the  defeat 
of  the  army  of  the  King  of  Naples  at  Falconeria,  the  affairs 
of  war  had  taken  a  disadvantageous  turn  for  the  Church. 
Hence  Robert,  Duke  of  Calabria,  was  forced  to  ask  a  truce 
from  Frederick,  which  being  obtained  strengthened  the 
latter's  sovereignty  over  Sicily.  But  they  were  to  re- 
sume their  arms  with  great  ardor ;  for  the  new  conditions 
in  which  Boniface  had  placed  affairs  promised  great  vic- 
tories. Genoa,  very  powerful  in  her  navy,  was  finally  de- 
tached from  Frederick,  and  joined  her  forces  to  those  of 
Charles.  In  the  previous  summer  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  between  Naples  and  this  republic,  which  being 
eminently  commercial  in  its  interests,  suffered  consider- 
ably from  its  hostile  relations  with  Naples.  For  the  ports 
of  Apulia  and  Calabria  being  closed  against  her,  she 
could  not  draw  away  the  wheat  and  other  grain  with 
which  they  abounded,  for  the  sake  of  trading,  and  she 
lost  thereby  immense  profits.  So  among  the  conditions 
introduced  into  the  treaty  in  favor  of  Genoa,  the  princi- 
pal were  the  free  entry  into  and  departure  from  the  ports 
of  Apulia  and  Calabria  of  the  Genoese  ships,  the  privilege 
of  exporting  the  cereals,  and  the  assimilation  of  that  re- 
public to  every  other  friendly  and  allied  State  in  the 
amount  of  custom  duties.61  The  aid  of  the  Genoese  was  a 

80 "  Entering  Alagna,  lo  the  fleur-de-lis, 
And  in  his  Vicar  Christ  a  captive  led! 
I  see  him  mocked  a  second  time; — again 
The  vinegar  and  gall  produced  I  see; 
And  Christ  himself  twixt  robbers  slain." 

Purgatorio  Canto  XX,  line  86,  etc. 

n"Dictus  Dominus  Carolus  venit  Florentiam,  et  facta  est  ibi  magna 
commotio,  et  spoliorum  direptio,  et  domorum  combustio  in  civitate,  et  in 
comitatu  qualis  non  fuit  a  tempore,  quo  Guelphi  et  Ghibellini  Florentiae 
fuerunt."  Ptolemy  de  Lucca.  Annals. 


310  HISTORY   OP   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

great  help  to  the  war.  There  was  gathered  a  fleet  of  fully 
one  hundred  large  vessels,  with  the  flower  of  the  cavalry 
and  a  great  number  of  French  barons ; 62  the  Archbishop 
elect  of  Salerno,  Papal  Legate,  was  endowed  with  the 
faculty  of  absolving  from  censures,  and  of  dispensing 
graces.  The  army  departed  for  Sicily.  Roger  of  Loria, 
who  commanded,  directed  their  course  to  the  Val  of 
Mazzara.  In  May  they  reached  the  coast  of  Termini. 
Having  captured  the  city,  they  encamped  there;  for  the 
country  was  favorable  for  movements  of  the  cavalry, 
which  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  army.  Then  they 
made  an  attack  on  the  cities  of  Polizzi  and  Corleone;  but 
as  it  was  useless  and  also  injurious,  they  proceeded  after- 
wards towards  the  southern  coasts,  and  laid  siege  to  the 
city  of  Sciacca.  The  walls  were  strong,  and  stronger  still 
were  the  defenders,  and  the  besiegers  with  all  their  en- 
ergy fought  to  conquer  it.  But  it  was  in  mid- July;  the 
heat  was  scorching  like  in  Africa,  to  which  country  this 
was  very  near,  the  sun  darted  its  rays  of  fire  over  the 
marshy  ground,  and  there  arose  from  it  putrid  exhala- 
tions. A  frightful  mortality  decimated  the  horses,  so  that 
in  a  few  days  there  remained  only  five  hundred  of  all  the 
large  number.  The  men  themselves  suffering  from  the 
effects  of  the  bad  air  saw  their  ranks  considerably  de- 
creased from  day  to  day.  Charles  of  Valois  despaired  of 
success,63  and  felt  the  necessity  of  a  treaty ;  disgusted  with 
a  war  so  unfortunately  begun,  he  turned  all  his  thoughts 
towards  empire.  Although  Robert,  Duke  of  Calabria,  was 
opposed  to  every  sort  of  treaty,  lamenting  the  loss  of 
Sicily,  as  well  as  the  treasures  and  the  blood  shed  so 
abundantly  and  so  uselessly  to  wrest  it  from  Frederick, 
nevertheless  he  was  forced  to  submit,  because  the  reverses 
exacted  it,  and  because  Charles  induced  him.  They  came 
to  a  parley  with  Frederick  on  the  24th  of  August  in  a 
country  house  between  Caltabellotta  and  Sciacca.  Charles 
spoke  first  alone  without  being  heard  by  Robert  of  Cala- 
bria, who  finished  by  taking  part  in  the  conversation. 
There  were  present  Roger  of  Loria,  a  witness  for  one  side, 
and  Palizzia,  most  ardent  admirer  of  Aragon  for  the  other, 

63  Letter  of  Boniface.    Raynaldus,  nos.  16  and  17,  year  1307. 
43  John  Villani,  book  8,  chap.  49 — Ptolemy  of  Lucca  Annal. — St  Anton- 
inus 3.  par.  tit.  20,  16. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  3H 

and  many  other  barons.  For  five  days  they  were  delib- 
erating. The  treaty  was  concluded  on  the  29th  of  August 
and  sworn  to  on  the  30th.  In  the  annals  of  Raynaldus  64 
is  found  the  summary  of  the  terms  of  peace.  Frederick 
was  to  retain  the  sovereignty  over  Sicily  with  the  title  of 
king  during  his  life,  and  was  to  marry  Eleanor,  daughter 
of  Charles;  his  children  were  to  receive  the  kingdoms  of 
Cyprus  and  Sardinia,  and  failing  in  these,  either  they 
were  to  retain  Sicily  as  the  dowry  from  their  mother,  or 
would  be  recompensed  with  one  hundred  thousand  ounces 
of  gold;  there  was  to  be  a  gratuitous  and  mutual  libera- 
tion of  prisoners,  a  mutual  restoration  of  the  territory 
seized  by  Charles  in  Sicily  and  by  Frederick  in  Calabria; 
the  goods  taken  in  the  beginning  of  the  wars  in  Sicily 
were  to  be  returned  to  the  churches;  and  each  prince 
was  to  grant  pardon  to  his  respective  rebels. 

From  these  terms  of  peace  it  is  clear  that,  apart  from 
that  future  and  possible  restoration  of  Sicily  to  be  made 
by  the  sons  of  Frederick  in  the  event  of  not  receiving 
Cyprus  and  Sardinia,  Charles,  after  his  profuse  outlay 
of  money,  and  after  a  long  war,  did  not  derive  any  bene- 
fits; on  the  contrary  he  granted  to  the  enemy  that  which 
in  open  war  he  strove  to  take  from  him.  Boniface,  that  is 
to  say  the  Church,  fared  worse.  He  was  not  summoned, 
or  consulted  in  drawing  up  the  terms  of  peace.  Charles 
of  Valois  treated  with  Frederick  about  Sicily  as  if  it  were 
a  kingdom  subject  to  the  right  of  conquest,  and  completely 
independent  of  the  Papal  See,  which  public  opinion  at 
that  time  recognized  as  the  rightful  master  of  that  island. 
This  is  the  reason  why  Boniface,  pressed  by  the  ambassa- 
dors of  Frederick  to  approve  the  treaty,  declared  by  letter 
that  the  conditions  of  agreement  drawn  up  by  Charles 
could  not  be  approved  by  him  without  impugning  his  own 
dignity  and  that  of  the  Apostolic  See;  the  substance  of 
the  treaty  being  maintained,  some  censure  was  necessary 
for  the  honor  and  the  recognition  of  the  dominion  of  the 
Church.65  From  which  it  appears  that  Boniface  out- 
wardly complained  only  that  the  honor  of  the  Church  was 
not  upheld,  inasmuch  as  he  had  not  taken  part  nor  even 

**Nic  Special.  Book  6,  cap.  6,  cap.  8,  cap.  10. — Villani,  Book  8,  chap.  50. 
—Ptolemy  of  Lucca  Amal.  S.  R.  I.  T.  XI,  p.  1305. 
ss  Raynaldus,  1302,  2,  3,  4,  6,  7. 


312  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

was  called  to  take  part  in  the  composition  of  the  articles 
of  agreement.  Inwardly,  however,  any  one  can  surmise 
whether  he  approved  or  not  that  surrender  of  the  rights 
of  the  Church  in  Sicily  into  the  hands  of  Frederick,  and 
for  the  same  reason  if  in  truth  the  sum  and  substance  of 
the  treaty  was  pleasing  to  him.  However  he  sent  an  an- 
swer immediately,  absolving  the  Sicilians  from  the  long- 
imposed  censures,  and  dispensed  Frederick  and  Eleanor 
from  the  impediment  of  consanguinity,  in  order  that  they 
might  wed,  which  they  did.  But  we  do  not  wish  to  pass 
over  in  silence  a  certain  observation  on  the  conduct  of 
Boniface  in  the  matter  of  this  treaty  drawn  up  by  Valois 
without  his  authorization. 

We  now  see  Boniface  changed  into  a  new  man.  The 
reader  may  remember  how,  having  heard  that  Charles  of 
Naples,  anxious  to  liberate  his  son  Philip,  the  Duke  of 
Taranto,  from  the  custody  of  the  Sicilians,  made  overtures 
of  peace  to  Frederick  without  consulting  him,  Boniface 
severely  reprimanded  the  king  and  made  him  desist  from 
the  overtures.  Now  Charles  of  Valois  concluded  a  treaty 
without  the  knowledge  of  Boniface,  and  Boniface  says 
nothing.  He  asks  only  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in  its 
confirmation,  not  to  change  the  substance  of  the  agree- 
ment, but  only  to  save  the  honor  of  the  Papal  See,  which 
had  been  compromised,  because  it  was  not  thought  of  in 
the  management  of  an  affair,  which  was  altogether  its 
own.  Who  then  restrained  Boniface?  Who  made  him  in- 
active and  patient  at  this  time?  It  is  evident  that  it  was 
Philip  the  Fair,  with  whom  he  had  already  a  misunder- 
standing. Foreseeing  the  effect  of  this  division  would  be 
terrible,  to  avert  it  he  carefully  avoided  every  pretext  that 
could  arouse  the  proud  spirit  of  this  prince,  or  lend  a 
color  of  justice  to  his  violence.  For  Charles  of  Valois 
was  a  French  prince,  and  if  the  Pope  punished  him  and 
sent  him  back  in  shame  to  his  own  country  as  he  deserved, 
this  would  have  aroused  and  precipitated  the  anger  of 
Philip  the  Fair.  Now  if  Boniface  for  these  reasons  re- 
mained patient  in  affairs  of  his  own,  what  fault  was  it 
for  him  to  be  likewise  patient  in  the  affairs  of  the  White 
Guelphs  for  the  same  reasons?  And  this  was  why  this 
Charles  of  Valois,  called  to  establish  peace  in  Florence, 
and  undertake  a  war  in  Sicily  according  to  the  will  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  313 

Pontiff,66  was  allowed  to  continue  the  strife  in  Tuscany, 
and  to  effect  a  peace  detrimental  to  the  Church  in  Sicily, 
without  Boniface  speaking  a  word.  And  Boniface  was 
not  a  man  to  bear  in  silence  such  foreign  impertinence. 
Therefore  that  slander  set  upon  the  memory  of  Boniface 
by  certain  people,  who  accuse  him  of  causing  Dante's 
woes,  appears  to  us  to  have  no  reasonable  foundation. 

To  arrive  at  the  truth,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  man  to 
do  so,  of  events  which  happened  at  times  far  remote  from 
us,  and  over  which  human  passions  had  been  greatly  and 
for  a  long  while  exercised,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  his- 
torian, to  reach  a  right  decision,  had  two  solemn  duties 
to  perform,  in  which  if  he  fail,  far  from  combating  and 
rectifying  the  error  of  others,  he  only  confirms  them  by 
his  own.  First  of  all,  documents  which  others  made  use  of 
beforehand  must  be  submitted  not  only  to  the  laws  of 
criticism,  but  also  to  the  philosophy  of  history;  and  after- 
wards men  must  be  coolly  considered  not  so  much  in  the 
material  as  in  the  moral  condition  of  their  lives  which  are 
manifested  in  the  circumstances  of  times  and  places.  Such 
a  study  distinguished  the  chronicler  from  the  historian. 
The  former  narrates,  the  latter  in  narrating  discusses, 
that  is,  passes  in  review  the  circumstances  of  which  we 
speak,  and  by  this  reflects  a  sure  light  on  the  individual, 
whom  he  treats,  and  not  only  brings  to  light  the  facts, 
but  also  their  moral  reason.  The  reader  may  clearly  per- 
ceive from  these  words  that  we  are  now  approaching  that 
famous  struggle  of  Boniface  with  Philip  the  Fair.  The 
reader  may  also  be  certain  that  it  is  with  a  faltering  heart 
that  we  approach  the  -subject,  both  because  the  mission 
of  the  historian  in  the  narration  of  facts  of  this  nature  is 
a  very  difficult  one,  and  because  the  love  of  truth  forces 
us  to  differ  in  opinion  from  many  a  worthy  writer.  Now 
let  us  consider  the  characters  of  these  two  personages, 
Boniface  and  Philip  the  Fair,  whom  the  fiery  human 
passions  of  their  times  have  handed  down  to  us,  clothed  in 
mystery.  We  have  already  spoken  of  Philip  in  the  second 
book  of  this  history.  But  if  the  reader  will  allow,  we 

"Raynaldus  2302,  p.  5  et  seq  .  .  .  .  "in  principalibus  Integra 
remanente  substantia,  ad  emendationem  et  reformationem  ejus,  secundum 
aequam  rationabilemque  censuram,  pro  reverentia  et  honore,  ac  recognitione 
debita  nobis,  et  eidem  ecclesiae,  tuum  convertas  animum." — 


314  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

will  recall  his  moral  traits,  because  we  come  to  a  fact 
which  the  prime  cause  of  his  conduct,  a  conduct  which 
will  confirm  our  assertion.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Philip 
was  a  man  of  unbounded  ambition  and  of  unbridled  lust 
for  gold.  And  when  we  consider  the  laws  enacted  by  him, 
and  the  acts  of  his  reign,  we  find  that  wearing  the  crown 
meant  to  him  no  opposition  whatever  to  his  absolute  and 
despotic  authority.  Feudalism,  which  rested  entirely  in 
the  civil  aristocracy  and  clergy,  was  an  obstacle  which  he 
resolved  to  remove,  and  to  this  end  he  fought  vigorously 
and  with  little  opposition,  for  at  that  time  in  France 
neither  with  the  people  nor  the  feudal  lords  was  there  a 
legal  means  of  resisting  a  possible  derangement  of  the 
royal  will.  The  French  kings  from  Charlemagne  down 
to  this  time  were  absolute  monarchs;  but  that  identifi- 
cation of  the  monarch  with  the  state  was  not  for  a  per- 
sonal but  a  public  benefit.  Philip  the  Fair  was  the  first 
who  united  in  himself  all  public  authority  to  the  detri- 
ment of  others,  solely  for  his  own  use.  He  was  the  state, 
and  the  state  had  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  yoke,  and  not 
enjoy  the  favors  of  him  who  imposed  it.  He  penetrated 
the  remotest  part  of  French  society  to  imprint  there  by 
laws  conceived  in  his  brain,  undisciplined  by  anyone,  the 
character  of  his  absolute  power,  and  to  wrest  power  from 
others.  The  right  to  coin  money  which  was  invested  in 
other  lords  in  France,  by  him  was  reserved  alone  to  the 
king.  This  was  right  and  proper,  if  it  had  been  done  for 
the  public  good,  but  wicked  and  improper  if  for  private 
and  profligate  gain,  as  was  the  case.  Observe  how,  being 
king,  he  was  not  ashamed  of  becoming  a  base  counter- 
feiter of  money;  in  other  words  guilty  of  the  greatest  ras- 
cality, the  consequence  of  which  is  that  a  people  is  separ- 
ated from  others,  deprived  of  the  benefits  of  commerce, 
and  condemned  to  domestic  miseries  for  a  solemn  betrayal 
of  a  public  trust.  In  his  encounter  with  feudalism,  he 
had  to  face  two  enemies,  the  civil  and  clerical  aristocra- 
cies. The  former  was  overcome,  because  not  being  in- 
vested with  legal  forms  as  a  body,  it  was  consequently 
wanting  in  the  power  given  by  unity  of  rights  and  of 
chiefs.  The  latter  resisted,  because  it  was  acknowledged 
by  public  opinion  of  the  time,  and  was  very  powerful  ow- 
ing to  the  unity  of  its  rights  and  of  its  head,  who  was  the 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  315 

Roman  Pontiff.  The  former  being  overcome,  easily  passed 
from  subjection  to  servitude,  and  strengthened  the  king. 
The  other  resisting  irritated  the  king,  but  it  could  not 
long  preserve  inviolate  its  rights,  because  oppressed  by 
the  king  and  the  lords  themselves,  when  the  latter,  it 
seems,  should  have  remained  united  to  it  by  a  community 
of  rights  in  a  community  of  fiefs.  The  times  were  past  of 
pure  barbarism  in  which  the  will  of  the  conqueror  im- 
posed itself,  inflexible  and  blood-stained  like  the  point  of 
sword  upon  which  it  supported  itself.  The  generations 
once  being  civilized,  princes  hid  their  sword,  and  to  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  whom  they  desired  no  longer  to  intimi- 
date, but  to  persuade,  if  they  could,  they  displayed  the 
book  of  Law  in  order  to  create  their  power.  There  was 
needed  for  this  work  not  soldiers,  nor  an  armed  hand,  but 
jurists  and  subtleties.  And  as  there  are  soldiers  just  de- 
fenders of  their  own  goods,  and  soldiers  unjust  despoil- 
ers  of  the  goods  of  others,  so  also  there  would  be  honest 
jurists  true  interpreters  of  the  law,  and  jurists  without 
honesty,  who  violated  it  under  the  mantle  of  justice.  Our 
readers  may  remember  how  Frederick  Barbarossa,  in  order 
to  have  himself  considered  another  Caesar  Augustus,  and 
as  a  consequence  natural  master  of  Italy,  made  use  of 
jurists,  and  especially  of  that  kind  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  in  the  second  place.  Philip  the  Fair  had  a  good 
number  of  this  stamp  to  legitimize  his  attacks  against  the 
rights  of  the  Church.  He  could  not  openly  strike  the 
Church,  for  he  would  not  have  had  many  followers  or 
companions.  He  hid  himself  behind  the  sublety  of  his 
jurists,  and  chiefly  Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  William  de 
Plessis,  and  those  two  adventurous  ruffians  Peter  Flotte 
and  William  de  Nogaret.  They  directed  their  efforts  to 
destroy  the  distinction  of  the  different  species  of  the  goods 
of  the  Church.  Some  were  really  offerings  of  the  faithful, 
and  being  placed  on  the  altar  of  God,  every  law  human 
and  divine  forbade  them  to  be  touched  by  man,  even  were 
he  most  powerful.  Others  were  donations  of  Princes,  in 
title  of  fiefs,  and  over  this  the  prince  could  exercise  rights, 
as  their  supreme  master.  The  exercise  of  this  right 
Philip  wanted  to  extend  without  distinction  to  the  goods 
of  the  Church  of  the  first  kind,  and  in  this  he  was  ably 
assisted  by  the  jurists  who  confounded  the  nature  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

patrimonies.  In  a  word  Philip  desired  to  do  in  the  matter 
of  the  Church's  property,  what  the  emperors  had  done  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Investitures.  In  fact  every  disagree- 
ment arising  betwen  him  and  Boniface  had  its  origin  in 
the  usurpation  of  some  sacred  thing.  At  one  time  he 
issued  an  edict  in  opposition  to  the  constitution  "  Cler- 
icis  Laicos,"  preventing  the  pious  offerings  from  being 
sent  to  Kome  for  the  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land;  again 
allowing  his  minister  Count  Robert  of  Artois  to  usurp 
a  part  of  the  city  of  Cambrai,  subject  to  the  Bishop  even 
in  temporalities;  again  delaying  to  restore  to  the  Arch- 
bishop elect  of  Rheims,  Robert  of  Courtenay,  the  posses- 
sions of  the  Church,  which  he  held  in  custody  while  the 
see  was  vacant ; 68  seizing  the  return  of  a  year  from  all 
the  prebends  and  ecclesiastical  benefices  in  France,  during 
the  war  in  Flanders.  Consulting  the  register  of  the  letters 
of  this  Pontiff  one  can  see  that  other  princes  also  had 
from  time  to  time  been  guilty  of  the  same  fault,  but  none 
to  such  a  degree  as  Philip  the  Fair,  who  used  every  effort 
to  sanction  by  law  usurpations  of  the  goods  and  the  rights 
of  the  Church. 

He  with  his  ministers  actually  became  indignant  at  the 
complaints  of  Boniface,  as  if  menaced  by  a  robber,  who 
wanted  to  deprive  him  of  his  crown,  and  they  raised  the 
cry  that  Boniface  wished  to  make  himself  King  of  France. 
From  this  it  appears,  he  considered  that  to  control  the 
churches  was  only  to  exercise  his  right  as  king,  as  over 
any  other  part  of  his  kingdom.  Moreover  every  way  of 
escape  from  the  error  was  closed  to  the  unfortunate  King 
by  these  jurists,  who,  interested  in  magnifying  his  power 
to  satisfy  more  fully  their  own  covetousness,  never  tired 
in  their  dishonest  adulations  and  in  the  work  of  seeing  the 
king  triumphant  over  the  Pope.  For  this  reason  ever 
whispering  falsehoods  into  the  ears  of  the  King,  and  mis- 
representing the  words  and  actions  of  Boniface,  they  in- 
jected into  him  the  mania  of  authority;  on  account  of 
which  poor  Philip,  like  the  Saul  of  Alfieri,  enjoyed  no 
rest  nor  peace  and  at  every  turn  the  terrible  Pontiff  ap- 
peared to  him  striving  to  precipitate  him  from  his  throne. 
The  old  story  of  the  misery  of  Princes  lulled  to  sleep  by 
flattery ! 

''John  Villani,  5.  8.  c.  4«.  «•  Raynaldus  1299,  no.  22. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

A  strong  support  was  given  to  his  nefarious  work  by 
Philip,  in  his  convocation  of  the  States  General,  which  if 
it  was  not  the  first  time  that  the  citizen  class  was  called 
to  take  part  in  public  affairs,  at  least  Philip  did  it  more 
often  than  other  kings.  It  makes  us  smile  when  we  heap 
of  some,  who  think  themselves  well  versed  in  political 
economy,  lay  open  their  hearts  not  to  a  mere  hope,  but  to 
an  assured  civil  happiness  if  they  see  a  prince  assemble 
parliaments;  as  if  from  these  there  should  come  forth 
that  mysterious  means  whereby  liberty  and  order  are 
harmonized.  Philip  of  France  was  greatly  extolled  by 
some  for  his  convocation  of  the  States  General,  but  yet  he 
convinces  us  and  he  should  convince  those  facile  prom- 
isers  of  good,  that  these  assemblies  in  an  absolute  mon- 
archy are  not  productive  of  good  at  all,  but  often  of  evil. 
Called  upon  to  deliberate  they  are  either  too  free,  and 
then  the  royal  power  being  subservient,  lest  tyrannies  be 
multiplied  there  is  need  of  a  check,  which  is  however  no- 
where to  be  found;  or  else  they  are  too  servile  like  the 
parliament  of  Henry  VIII  in  England,  and  then  far  from 
tempering,  they  increase  a  thousandfold  the  power  of  the 
prince,  who  used  them  as  vile  satellites..  And  since  we 
speak  of  France,  we  find  among  the  French  examples  of 
these  two  kinds,  but  we  do  not  wish  to  speak  to  such  re- 
cent events.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  States  Gen- 
eral which  Philip  convoked  were  composed  of  servile  men. 
He  derived  from  them  two  of  very  great  benefit.  One  was 
that  by  his  having  invited  the  citizen  class  to  take  part 
in  public  affairs,  thereby  gratifying  their  vanity,  and  as 
it  were  making  them  participators  of  the  royal  power, 
they  were  most  pliant  in  the  imposition  of  those  taxes 
and  subsidies,  which  he  so  ardently  desired ;  and  the  other 
advantage  was,  that  being  in  a  state  of  war  either  with 
princes  or  Popes,  the  sight  of  him  being  surrounded  by 
all  the  people  of  the  kingdom,  increased  greatly  respect 
and  reverence  from  without,  as  if  fortified  by  the  moral 
force  of  the  assistance  of  the  entire  people.  Such  was 
Philip  the  Fair ;  such  were  the  reasons  of  his  actions ;  and 
such  were  the  means  he  adopted.  Now  we  come  to  Boni- 
face. 

Boniface  was  Supreme  Pontiff,  and  therefore  watchful 
of  the  rights  and  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  in  a  word,  of 


318  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

her  liberty,  for  which  he  could  not  be  blamed.  The  times 
were  very  dangerous  especially  for  that  liberty  and  as 
time  went  on  the  danger  became  greater.  The  day  had 
passed  when  the  mere  presence  of  the  Sovereign  Pastor 
was  sufficient  to  arrest  the  march  of  an  Attila,  and  when 
the  brutal  force  of  an  invading  army  could  be  restrained 
by  the  force  of  supernatural  faith.  As  monarchies  took 
refuge  behind  the  bulwark  of  right,  the  Pope  was  obliged 
to  do  likewise,  for  two  objects  in  view;  the  one  to 
strengthen,  or  at  least  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
Church,  such  as  follow  from  the  constitution  purely 
divine  of  the  Church;  and  the  other  was  not  to  allow  it 
to  lose  the  position  which  the  public  right  had  given  in 
the  civil  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  first  of 
these  duties  created  for  the  Pope  the  necessity  of  a  con- 
tact Avith  secular  states  by  reason  of  the  immediate  rela- 
tion between  the  spiritual  society  and  the  temporal;  to 
accomplish  the  second,  a  simple  contact  with  these  states 
would  not  suffice,  but  it  should  penetrate  to  the  inmost 
depths  of  the  States,  in  order  to  appeal  to  the  justice  of 
public  right.  Now  since  the  monarchies  were  absolute, 
the  request  of  the  Pope,  and  consequently  the  severe  meas- 
ures which  the  denial  of  justice  provoked,  would  have  to 
be  addressed  immediately  to  the  King,  and  not  to  the 
people.  An  excellent  reason  why  we  find  the  Popes  in 
opposition  to  kings.  If  the  latter  little  by  little  withdrew 
the  concessions  made  to  the  Pope  by  them  and  the  people, 
diminishing  thus  the  benefit  of  the  public  right  in  favor 
of  the  Church,  the  opposition  of  the  Pope  was  reasonable ; 
but  if  in  the  process  the  kings  happened  to  strike  at  that 
right  altogether  divine,  which  is  the  chief  foundation  of 
the  Church,  any  defence  raised  by  the  Pope  was  not  only 
reasonable  but  rigorously  obligatory.  So  those  Popes 
were  reasonable  and  just,  who  wished,  for  example,  to 
preserve  the  judgment  of  the  civil  cases  conceded  to  them 
by  princes  and  the  consent  of  the  people,  and  which  was 
consecrated  by  public  opinion.  But  most  just  and  bound 
by  duty  were  those  Popes,  who  to  repair  the  loss  of  souls, 
intruded  themselves  into  states  to  prevent  wars  and  to 
punish  those  princes,  who,  engaging  in  unjust  wars,  be- 
came the  causes  of  so  many  massacres  and  rapines  and 
injury  to  the  churches.  And  hence  that  absolution  of 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  319 

the  people  from  the  oath  of  obedience  to  princes  became 
just  and  necessary;  no  one  being  obliged  to  swear  to  de- 
fend a  wicked  act,  such  being  the  obedience  to  a  rascally 
prince,  because  it  would  be  binding  oneself  by  oath  to 
co-operate  in  the  wicked  deeds  of  another.  We  speak  of 
those  times. 

Boniface  saw  snatched  away  by  the  French  king  not 
only  that  which  from  religious  fervor  had  been  conceded 
by  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  but  also  that  which  no  king 
could  give  or  take  away,  the  liberty  of  the  Church,  which 
is  a  thing  entirely  divine.  Therefore  the  Pope  held  out 
against  a  downright  robbery,  and  for  that  reason  we  are 
not  to  wonder  at  the  vigor  of  the  resistance. 

And  in  the  quarrel  with  Philip  the  Fair  if  some  one 
finds  Boniface  excessive  in  his  anger  (which  we  have  not 
found ) ,  he  must  consider  the  temper  of  mind  of  the  Pope, 
and  the  ingratitude  of  Philip  for  all  his  benefits.  That 
magnanimous  sinner,  (as  Benvenuto  of  Imola,  St.  Anto- 
ninus and  even  Villani  call  him),  shows  us,  that  within 
that  Pontifical  breast  there  was  contained  a  strong  and 
generous  heart.  This  firmness  it  seems  to  us  was  dis- 
played more  brilliantly  in  his  self-control,  than  in  his 
holy  pursuit  of  justice.  For  from  the  years  1296  in  which 
the  Constitution  "  Clericis "  was  published,  until  1300, 
the  year  of  the  legation  of  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  the  be- 
ginning of  the  quarrel,  the  Pope  had  been  an  example  of 
forbearance.  To  publish  an  offensive  edict  in  opposition 
to  a  Papal  Constitution,  which  was  directed  to  weaken  the 
enemies  of  Philip,  was  an  impertinence  sufficient  to 
arouse  the  indignation  of  an  anchoret;  and  yet  Boniface 
did  everything  to  please  Philip,  favoring  him  with  a  be- 
nign interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  by  which  the 
French  kings  began  to  enjoy  a  new  privilege.  But  favors 
did  not  reclaim  Philip,  they  served  only  to  make  him  more 
rascally,  and  yet  we  find  no  record  of  censures  hurled 
against  him  by  Boniface,  but  instead  he  repealed  those 
which  had  already  been  fulminated  in  the  body  of  the  law. 
Boniface  was  not  a  man  to  be  frightened,  and  for  this 
reason  this  control  of  temper  is  wonderful  in  a  soul  so 
ardent  and  vigorous. 

We  do  not  know  if  a  personal  friendship  united  Boni- 
face to  Philip  the  Fair.  We  find  that  up  to  this  year  he 


320  HISTORY   OF.   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

did  everything  to  favor  him,  and  refrained  from  every- 
thing that  would  tend  to  hurt  him.  But  since  we  are 
speaking  of  persons  placed  in  the  highest  offices,  the  dis- 
covery of  this  friendship  would  be  vain,  as  it  may  have 
ceased  on  the  morning  of  public  life.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  Pope  loved  the  King  of  France.  For  that  move- 
ment undertaken  to  restrain  his  enemies  round  about  him, 
at  one  time  exhorting  Edward  of  England,  then  Adolphus, 
to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  not  disturb  the  peace  of 
France;  that  constancy  in  taking  revenge  upon  Sicily  for 
Charles  of  Naples,  a  Frenchman;  that  confidence  placed 
in  Charles  of  Valois,  and  the  desire  to  elevate  him  to  the 
rank  of  Emperor;  and  finally  that  control  of  temper  to- 
wards Philip,  who  was  in  a  fury,  were  most  certain  proofs 
that  the  Pope  wished  the  French  King  well.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  of  this  love.  It  was  enshrined  for  a  long  time 
in  the  counsels  of  the  Papal  Court,  and  it  could  never  be 
lessened.  There  are  certain  benefits  in  human  life,  which 
can  never  be  banished  from  the  mind,  such  as  we  may 
receive  in  youth,  and  whatever  might  be  the  offence  com- 
ing to  us  from  a  benefactor,  our  love  even  grows  stronger. 
Such  were  the  benefits  which  the  Popes  had  received  in 
the  youth  of  the  civil  Pontificate  from  the  French  kings. 
Unable  to  resist  the  power  of  the  Lombards  from  with- 
out, and  the  tyranny  of  the  Romans  from  within  they 
found  a  liberator  in  Charlemagne,  and  he  found  in  them 
magnificent  remunerators.  In  those  times,  we  speak  of 
the  eighth  century,  to  be  anointed  and  to  receive  a  crown 
from  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  and  that  cry:  ff To  Charles 
most  pious  Augustus  crowned  by  God,  great  and  peaceful 
Emperor,  long  life  and  victory"  were  truly  worth  an 
empire.  And  from  that  time  on  account  of  this  exchange 
of  friendly  offices,  France  was  always  considered  the 
support  of  the  Papal  See,  and  as  a  defender  to  be  invoked 
when  serious  civil  difficulties  arose.  When  the  Pontifi- 
cate was  oppressed  by  the  might  of  the  Suabians,  it  was 
relieved  by  the  French  family  of  Anjou.  In  the  bound- 
less expansion  of  the  monarchy  of  Charles  V,  the  Popes 
never  lost  sight  of  France,  and  this  country  from  time  to 
time  they  favored,  in  order  to  show  respect  for  that  lord 
of  such  a  vast  domain.  France  was  always  a  place  of 
refuge  for  persecuted  Popes.  Leo  III,  and  Gelasius  II, 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  321 

so  brutally  treated  by  the  proud  Roman  patricians,  sought 
an  asylum  and  assistance  in  France.  That  solemn  Coun- 
cil of  Lyons,  in  which  there  was  such  a  long  deliberation 
over  sacred  and  civil  destinies,  was  held  in  France  as  a 
place  of  safety.  Therefore  it  was  established  in  the  coun- 
sels of  the  Papal  Court,  that  France  would  be  the  de- 
fender of  the  Church  in  time  of  danger.  The  French  bet- 
ter than  any  other  people  suited  this  design,  for  although 
they  did  not  wed  the  intellect  to  a  certain  maturity  of 
judgment,  from  which  is  generated  a  tenacity  of  purpose, 
yet  they  superabound  in  liveliness  of  the  heart,  from  which 
deeds  burst  forth  rather  than  proceed,  and  in  that  gener- 
osity of  soul  by  which  on  the  very  first  meeting  of  ob- 
stacles they  seem  entirely  superhuman,  and  hence  most 
powerful  propagators  of  good  and  of  evil.68  And  so  they 
are  found  always  the  first  in  those  actions,  in  which  the 
heart  plays  a  greater  part  than  cold  reason.  The  Crusade 
being  proclaimed,  the  French  are  the  first  to  raise  the 
standard  of  the  Cross  and  march.  Is  there  a  certain  coun- 
try to  be  enlightened  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the 
French  are  the  first  to  hasten,  lavish  of  their  life.  Is  there 
a  society  to  be  formed  in  the  interest  of  the  faith,  or  for 
the  relief  of  distress,  they  are  the  first  who  come  forward 
lavish  of  their  goods.  The  Catholic  religion,  which  in 
man  likes  to  dwell  in  the  fervid  regions  of  the  heart 
rather  than  in  the  sombre  recesses  of  the  brain,  will 
always  have  need  of  this  race  of  men.  For  this  reason 
the  faults  of  the  French  could  never  withdraw  the  Roman 
Pontificate  from  that  innate  trust  which  it  placed  in  them 
in  its  human  calamities,  and  for  the  disrespect  of  these 
sons  it  always  holds  in  readiness  a  paternal  forgiveness. 
In  fact  whilst  France,  like  one  shipwrecked,  was  still 
tossed  about  in  the  tempest  of  that  revolution,  by  which 
Pope  Pius  VII,  wrested  from  the  sacred  precincts  of  the 
Vatican,  was  by  French  hands  borne  across  the  Alps  to 
exile;  France,  we  say,  threw  herself  prostrate  at  his  feet 
revering  him  with  immense  love,  like  Magdalen  at  the  feet 
of  Christ;  and  Pius  wept  with  a  holy  joy.  Pius  VI  after 
having  endured  the  philosophic  tyranny  of  Joseph  II,  was 
induced  to  visit  Austria.  Austria,  however,  did  not  revere 

w  See  Guizot.     "  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe,"  page  16. 


322  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

him,  nor  do  we  find  that  Pius  wept  with  joy;  rather  he 
shed  tears  of  grief.  The  reader  will  understand  from  this 
comparison  what  we  think  of  France,  and  how  sincere  was 
the  love  Boniface  bore  for  Philip  the  Fair,  as  a  successor 
of  Charlemagne.  The  moral  portraits  of  Boniface  and 
Philip  the  Fair  being  traced,  there  is  no  doubt  that  ap- 
proaching them  nearer  in  order  to  observe  their  conduct 
in  the  famous  quarrel,  the  truth  will  be  seen  more  plainly 
and  more  easily.  And  since  it  is  impossible  henceforth 
to  find  the  culpability  in  the  substance  of  the  acts  of  Boni- 
face, our  judgment  will  be  restricted  to  the  examination 
of  the  manner  of  action,  that  is  to  say,  to  see  if  he  did  not 
sin  by  excess  in  the  defence  of  justice;  this  will  be  clearly 
shown  in  the  narration  upon  which  we  are  about  to  enter, 
and  in  which  we  are  about  to  refresh  ourselves  after  being 
unnerved,  as  it  were,  by  the  judgment  we  have  passed  on 
such  great  personages. 

Philip  up  to  the  year  1302  had  been  most  obstinate  in 
working  injury  on  the  Church.  Neither  the  favors,  nor 
the  threats  of  Boniface  had  been  able  to  dissuade  him 
one  iota  from  his  purpose,  on  the  contrary  he  proceeded 
from  bad  to  worse.  The  tithes  which  he  was  allowed  to 
collect  from  the  churches  for  the  war  in  the  Holy  Land,  he 
greedily  seized.  He  kept  the  Clerics  a  long  time  deprived 
of  their  prebends,  and  imprisoned  them.  He  totally  ig- 
nored the  sacred  immunities. 

From  the  year  1298  Philip,  exceeding  all  limits  of  jus- 
tices provoked  Boniface  to  the  severest  exercise  of  his 
power.  The  ministers  and  courtiers  knew  the  pain  the 
King  suffered  by  reason  of  the  laws  which  forbade  him 
to  steal  the  property  of  another  and  especially  that  conse- 
crated to  God;  and  therefore  between  the  desire  of  assu- 
aging the  royal  ills,  and  because  the  same  malady  had 
attacked  them  also,  they  shamefully  pounced  upon  the 
possessions  of  the  churches.  The  kings  of  France  en- 
joyed the  privileges  delegated  from  the  Pope,  of  guarding 
and  holding  in  custody  vacant  benefices.  Here  was  a  right 
that  had  sprung  from  a  privilege.  But  whither  did  it 
tend?  From  custody  Philip  passed  on  to  robbery,  and  he 
confiscated  the  possessions  he  guarded.  If  a  bishop  or 
beneficiary,  not  by  death  but  by  some  reason  of  absence, 
left  the  church  while  living,  he  on  the  strength  of  that 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  303 

right  of  guardianship  seized  everything  with  a  free  hand. 
His  ministers  did  the  same,  and  even  worse. 

Gazon,  Bishop  of  Laon,  for  some  fault  or  other,  being 
suspended  by  the  Pope  from  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
administration  of  his  diocese,  set  out  for  Rome,  in  answer 
to  a  summons  to  appear  there.  Hardly  had  he  departed 
than  Philip  enters,  declares  the  see  vacant,  makes  him- 
self custodian  of  the  same,  and  as  such  master  of  every- 
thing he  finds.  Boniface  warned  him,  but  in  vain :  "  Bfe 
"  most  assured  that  by  an  interdict  of  administration,  by 
"  suspension  and  even  excommunication  of  a  bishop,  the 
"  see  is  by  no  means  vacant."  69  Philip  knew  this.  John, 
Cardinal  of  the  title  of  St.  Cecilia,  by  his  last  will  left 
some  of  his  property  for  pious  works  in  France,  among 
which  was  the  foundation  of  a  college  for  poor  clerics  in 
Paris.  Philip  and  his  ministers  seized  these  goods,  pre- 
sumably to  guard  them,  but  only  to  steal  them.  Boniface 
sent  John,  Cardinal  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Marcellinus,  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  to  execute  the  will  of  the 
pious  Cardinal,  and  prevent  the  goods  from  being  stolen.70 
But  he  obtained  nothing.  The  Count  of  Artois,  one  most 
intimate  in  the  counsels  of  Philip,  declared  that  a  part 
of  the  city  of  Cambria  subject  temporarily  and  spiritually 
to  the  Bishop,  belonged  to  him,  and  without  any  form  of 
proceedings,  took  possession  of  it  in  1299.  Boniface  ad- 
monished and  besought  him  at  least  to  inform  them  by 
what  right  he  established  his  claim.71  He  refused.  In 
the  same  year  the  Archbishop  elect  of  Rheims,  Robert  de 
Courtenay,  found  that  Philip  had  laid  hands  on  the  goods 
of  his  church,  under  the  pretext  of  guarding  them.  He 
requested  Philip  to  relinquish  his  custody  over  them,  but 
he  refused  to  do  so.  Boniface  admonished  him,  and  wrote 
to  him  that  as  the  See  of  Rheims  was  no  longer  vacant, 
there  was  no  need  of  a  custodian  and  a  trustee  for  its 
property.72  But  he  spoke,  as  it  were,  to  the  dead.  The 
royal  ministers  had  already  settled  themselves  there,  and 
were  being  enriched  thereby.  Then  a  cry  was  raised 
throughout  France  by  all  the  clergy,  that  the  hand  of  a 
Pharaoh  was  upon  them,  and  they  implored  the  help  of 

*  Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip,  Raynaldus,  1298,  no.  24. 
"Raynaldus,  idem.  n  Raynaldus,  1299,  no.  22. 

"Raynaldus,  1299,  no.  23.     Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip. 


324  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  Roman  Pontiff.  And  in  such  circumstances  was  he  to 
do  nothing  else  but  weep  over  these  violences? 

And  now  we  have  couie  finally  to  the  lamentable  quarrel 
with  Philip  the  Fair.  Certain  controversies  had  arisen 
between  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  Egidius  Asceline 
and  the  Almaric  viscount  of  this  city.  The  former  de- 
clared that  he  held  supreme  dominion  over  the  city;  and 
for  this  reason  whatever  the  Count  possessed  in  the  city 
and  suburb,  he  held  as  a  fief  of  the  See  of  Narbonne ;  but 
the  latter  denied  this,  and  said  he  was  a  vassal  of  the 
King.  In  support  of  this  he  had  obtained  letters  from 
Philip,  which  proved  his  pretensions,  but  they  violated 
the  agreement  made  before  by  his  predecessors  and  the 
See  of  Narbonne.  At  the  end  of  October  of  1299  the  Arch- 
bishop held  a  Council  at  Beziers,  which  was  attended  by 
the  Bishops  of  Beziers,  Nimes,  Maguelone,  Elne,  Pamiers, 
Agde,  Lodeve,  and  by  the  Abbots  of  Grasse,  St.  Pons, 
William  of  the  Desert,  and  others.73  The  question  of  the 
usurpation  of  the  Count  was  debated,  and  it  was  decided 
to  send  the  King  a  letter  which  would  set  forth  the  rights 
of  the  See  of  Narbonne;  and  among  these  was  the  oath  of 
homage  taken  by  the  father  of  the  Viscount.  They  com- 
plained of  the  letters  which  the  Viscount  had  obtained 
from  Philip.74  The  Bishop  of  Bezier,  an  Abbot  and  a 
Canon  were  the  bearers  of  the  complaints  to  Philip.  If 
Philip  had  given  letters  to  the  Viscount,  by  which  he  re- 
moved him  from  the  dominion  of  the  Bishop,  it  was  not 
hard  to  imagine  in  what  manner  these  complaints  would 
be  received.  Therefore  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  had 
recourse  also  to  Boniface. 

There  arose  another  controversy,  or  better  another 
usurpation  of  Philip.  The  Bishop  of  the  now  destroyed 
city  of  Maguelone,  in  Narbonnese  France,  possessed  the 
county  of  Maguelone  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See.  During 
the  reign  of  St.  Louis  IX,  the  royal  ministers  began  to 
invade  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop  and  undertook  to 
place  this  county  under  the  dominion  of  the  King.  But 
Pope  Clement  IV,  being  consulted  by  the  King,  returned 
such  a  well-reasoned  reply,  sustained  by  such  an  array  of 
documents,75  that  the  ministers  desisted  from  the  unjust 

"Coll.  Max.  Concil.  torn.  11,  page  1430.  "The  same. 

"See  Raynaldus,  year  1300,  no.  30. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  325 

invasion.  During  Philip's  reign,  the  documents  of  Clem- 
ent were  forgotten,  and  as  a  finished  case,  without  pro- 
ceedings, his  ministers  deprived  the  Apostolic  See  of  the 
county  of  Maguelone.  Boniface  was  aroused  and  he  wrote 
Philip  a  very  temperate  letter,  which  we  collate  among 
the  documents  of  this  work.  For  from  the  writings  of 
this  Pope  one  can  form  a  more  certain  judgment  than  that 
which  others  have  given  of  this  famous  quarrel.76  In  this 
letter,  after  having  mentioned  Philip's  grandfather,  King 
St.  Louis  IX;  after  having  explained  the  rights  of  the 
Church  over  the  county  of  Maguelone;  after  having  com- 
plained how  the  churches,  elevated  to  great  splendor  by 
his  predecessors,  were  by  him  and  his  ministers  oppressed, 
reduced  to  servitude,  and  ruined,  he  concluded  in  these 
words :  "  Tolerating,  my  son,  these  abuses  in  the  churches 
"  of  your  kingdom,  you  have  good  reason  to  fear  that  God, 
"  the  Lord  of  judgment  and  King  of  Kings  may  be  aroused 
"  to  vengeance,  and  that  His  Vicar  will  not  remain  silent 
"  to  the  end,  lest  perhaps  he  may  hear  this  sentence 
"  against  him :  i  A  dumb  dog  is  not  fit  to  bark ;' — who 
"  although  he  waits  patiently  for  a  time,  in  order  that  the 
"  way  of  mercy  may  not  be  closed,  yet  one  day  he  will 
"  arise  for  the  punishment  of  the  guilty  and  for  the  honor 
"  of  the  good.  May  God  grant  that  you  may  understand, 
"  and  weigh  well  the  suggestions  which  are  offered  you 
"  as  from  bad  angels ;  and  pay  no  attention  to  the  wicked 
"  counsellors,  false  prophets  with  honeyed  lips  who  make 
"  you  see  false  and  foolish  things.  ...  Be  careful, 
"  then,  lest  the  counsel  of  those  who  have  already  blinded 
"  you  by  flattery,  may  lead  you  to  a  wicked  end." 

To  allow  Philip  full  reign  any  longer  was  on  the  part 
of  the  Pope  yielding  too  much  to  prudence,  and  neglect- 
ing his  office  of  supreme  guardian  and  defender  of  the 
rights  of  the  Church.  Therefore  Boniface  thought  to 
restrain  Philip  by  a  legation,  with  the  hope  that  the 
things  explained  by  letter  might  be  more  effectual  in  the 
mouth  of  a  Papal  legate.  He  deputed  Bernard  de  Saisset, 
Bishop  of  Pamiers,  who  had  been  abbot  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Antoninus,  lord  of  Pamiers,  which  from  being  an 
abbatial  was  raised  to  an  episcopal  see,  and  he  was  ap- 

n  See  Document :  Letter  of  Boniface  to  Philip  about  the  county  of 
Maguelone. 


32G  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

pointed  the  first  bishop.  This  appointment  of  the  legate 
was  displeasing  to  Philip,  because  on  a  former  occasion 
he  found  Bernard  most  tenacious  of  his  right  of  dominion 
over  the  city,  which  he  wished  to  usurp. 

(1301)  Bernard  explained  to  the  King  the  decision  of 
the  Pope,  but  Philip  would  not  abide  by  it.  The  Legate 
threatened  him  with  the  usual  spiritual  penalties,  and 
those  which  always  obtained  in  those  times.  The  authori- 
ties of  the  time  have  not  handed  down  to  us  any  account 
of  what  passed  between  the  Legate  and  the  King.  Some 
have  conjectured  that  he  went  too  far,  even  daring  to  re- 
prove the  King  for  imprisoning  Guy  of  Dampierre,  Count 
of  Flanders,  and  his  daughter,  intimating  that  he  should 
liberate  them.  But  there  is  no  foundation  for  this  con- 
jecture.77 Others  said  that  the  Legate  was  excessive  in  his 
threats.78  But  the  only  witnesses  they  could  quote  of  the 
importunities  of  the  Legate,  would  be  Philip  and  his  min- 
isters; now  in  the  proceedings  which  they  afterwards  in- 
stituted against  the  Legate,  there  is  found  no  mention  of 
that  crime  of  lese-majesty.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
flatterers  who  surrounded  Philip,  being  ever  ready  to  do 
his  will  in  wrrong  or  right,  and  seeing  him  badly  disposed 
to  the  legation  of  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  suddenly  brought 
up  so  many  charges  against  him,  as  to  make  him  guilty 
of  high  treason.  It  was  necessary  to  find  the  crimes. 
Philip  had  recourse  to  his  jurists,  who  were  truly  om- 
nipotent. They  deputed  the  Archdeacon  of  Auge  and  the 
Vidame79  of  Amiens  to  collect  through  the  Seneschal's 
Court  of  Toulouse  secret  information  concerning  the 
Legate.80  According  to  the  desire  of  the  jurists,  twenty- 
four  witnesses  were  found,  who  with  one  accord  swore 
to  seven  different  charges,  namely  that  he  had  published 
how  King  St.  Louis  had  prophesied,  that  the  kingdom  of 
France  would  go  to  ruin  under  the  rule  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
and  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  foreigner;  that  he  had  con- 
spired with  the  Count  of  Fois  (the  reader  will  remember 

77  Sismondi.     History  of  France.  T.  VI,  page  45. 

"Spondani,    year    1301— Pag.    218.      Brev.    Gest.    Pontif.      Sec.    XIII, 
Tom.  Ill,  page  335. 

79  A  Vidame  in  France  during  the  Middle  Ages  was  he  who  guarded  the 
temporal  affairs  of  a  bishop,  and  who  defended  them. 

80  History  of  Languedoc,  Book  XXVIII,  c.  63,  p.  99.  apud  Sismondi. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  307 

that  the  Count  was  precisely  that  deadly  enemy  of  Ber- 
nard with  whom  the  latter  had  waged  war  for  a  long  time 
on  account  of  his  usurpations)  against  the  King,  and  had 
plotted  with  the  same  to  remove  the  county  of  Toulouse 
from  obedience  to  the  King,  and  to  prevent  the  marriage 
of  the  royal  daughter  to  the  son  of  Count  Philip  of  Artois, 
in  order  to  arrange  it  with  the  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Aragon;  that  he  had  reported  that  the  city  of  Pamiers 
was  not  comprised  in  the  kingdom  of  France,  and  conse- 
quently was  not  subject  to  Philip;  that  he  had  declared 
the  King  to  be  a  bastard,  and  a  falsifier  of  the  coinage  of 
the  realm.  As  usual  in  addition  he  was  accused  of  heresy, 
blasphemy  and  simony.81 

The  Legate  knew  of  the  inquisition  that  was  going  on 
in  his  diocese,  and  in  order  to  escape  the  storm  which  was 
gathering  about  him,  he  decided  to  set  out  for  Rome.  But 
the  Vidame  of  Amiens  on  the  night  of  the  12th  of  July 
having  forced  himself  into  the  episcopal  palace,  dragged 
forth  the  Legate,  to  whom  he  gave  notice  to  appear  on  the 
first  of  the  month  in  the  royal  presence.  He  subjected  his 
servants  to  cruel  tortures  in  order  to  wrest  from  them 
that  which  was  necessary.  Saisset  presented  a  pitiable 
sight  broken  down  by  infirmities,  enfeebled  by  old  age, 
dragged  by  the  master  bowman  to  the  court,  and  thrust 
into  a  dark  prison.  Peter  Flotte,  a  man  accustomed  to 
this,  acted  as  prosecutor. 

Philip  was  furious  on  hearing  of  the  felonies  that  were 
imputed  to  the  Legate,  and  on  the  24th  of  May  1301,  hav- 
ing ordered  the  proofs  to  be  collected,  he  declared  the  ac- 
cusations true.  It  was  decided  to  proceed  on  the  lines  of 
a  trial,  and  in  order  to  give  to  the  proceedings  an  honor- 
able character  by  observing  the  ordinary  rules  of  justice, 
Philip  summoned  a  council  of  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom 
at  Senlis,  with  many  doctors  of  laws  and  clerics.  After 
taking  counsel  from  them  he  imprisoned  the  Legate  and 
proceeded  against  him.  He  was  condemned  to  be  de- 
graded from  the  episcopate,  and  left  in  the  power  of  the 
Prince.  As  a  prisoner  he  was  consigned  to  the  custody  of 
Egidius,  Archbishop  of  Narbonne.82  In  Raynaldus  we  find 
the  chief  charges  against  the  Legate,  which  were  sent  to 

MMartene  Thesaurus  Anecdotorum  T.  1,  page  1319-1336 — Continual. 
Chron.  Nangii  1301,  page  54.  **  Hist,  du  Differ.,  page  634. 


328 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


the  Pope  by  Philip,  but  we  do  not  find  an  account  of  the 
trial,  in  which  these  charges  were  proven  to  be  true.  ( In- 
stead we  read  in  another  author,83  not  a  Catholic  in  be- 
lief, but  truly  a  philosopher,  who  examined  the  details 
of  this  trial,  declared  that  it  was  an  example  of  down- 
right injustice  and  violence.)  Yet  Spondano,  Page  the 
Younger,  and  Fleury  agree  in  accepting  with  hands 
joined  this  sentence  of  the  most  pious  and  most  temper- 
ate Philip.  And  these  Frenchmen  had  leisure  and  eyes 
to  read  this  trial,  just  as  well  as  this  other  writer.  Poor 
History !  Those  crimes  were  not  committed  by  the  Bishop 
on  the  exact  day  on  which  he  exercised  his  office  as  legate 
to  Philip,  they  were  (if  true)  committed  at  a  time  far 
remote.  Why  this  sudden  inquisition  at  the  moment  in 
which  Bernard  commenced  the  exercise  of  a  mission  which 
demanded  respect,  and  placed  him  under  the  safeguard 
of  all  laws?  Can  one  believe  that  the  accusers  at  that  time 
only  learned  of  these  crimes?  Should  not  they  have 
waited  either  until  Bernard  had  fulfilled  his  legation,  or 
had  been  dismissed,  in  order  not  to  drag  to  judgment  the 
person  of  an  ambassador,  that  is  to  say,  the  person  of  the 
prince  himself  whom  he  represented,  namely  the  Pope? 
But  we  shall  soon  see  that  Philip  had  sufficient  spirit  to 
judge  and  condemn  even  the  Pontiffs. 

Peter  Flotte,  William  de  Nogaret  and  the  other  two 
jurists,  whom  we  named  before,  directed  the  affairs  of  the 
parliament  of  Senlis,  in  order  to  make  them  proceed  with 
an  appearance  of  justice.  It  was  decided  to  send  a  mes- 
senger to  the  Pope  to  report  the  resolution  passed  in  the 
assembly.  He  was  to  state  humbly  that  although  King 
Philip  had  a  right  to  condemn  Bernard  de  Saisset  to  death 
as  convicted  of  grave  crimes,  yet  he  refrained  from  doing 
so,  in  order  to  imitate  the  example  of  his  ancestors,  zealous 
preservers  of  the  rights  of  the  Church,  and  above  all  the 
Roman  Church,  their  mother.  The  messenger  was  to  be- 
seech the  sovereign  pontiff  to  deprive  the  felon  bishop 
of  the  dignity  of  orders  and  every  clerical  privilege,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  punished  as  an  incorrigible  crim- 
inal. They  instructed  the  messenger  in  the  replies  he  was 
to  make  to  all  proposals  of  Boniface,  and  charged  him  to 

81  Guizot.  "  History  of  Civilization  in  France,"  45th  lesson,  page  588, 
Brussels  edition,  1839. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  329 

point  out  the  means  of  renewing  the  proceedings  against 
the  accused,  in  case  Bernard  was  not  condemned  at  Rome. 
We  are  not  certain  if  from  this  messenger  Boniface 
learned  of  the  imprisonment  of  his  legate,  his  trial  and 
condemnation,  or  by  some  other  way.  However  he  was 
very  ready  to  receive  with  prudent  firmness  the  embassy 
of  Philip  defining  in  that  consistory  of  jurists,  and  the 
following  is  that  which  by  private  letters  he  wished  them 
to  know :  That  by  divine  and  human  right  he  is  the  guar- 
dian of  the  liberty  of  clerics;  that  laymen  are  powerless 
over  them ;  that  the  predecessors  of  Philip  had  known  and 
acknowledged  the  same;  that  it  pained  him  to  learn,  how 
notwithstanding  this  pious  example,  he  had  summoned  to 
trial  in  his  presence  his  venerable  brother  the  Bishop  of 
Pamiers,  and  imprisoned  him  in  the  custody  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Narbonne,  under  the  pretext  of  personal  secur- 
ity; that  he  should  allow  the  imprisoned  legate  to  come 
to  Rome;  that  he  should  restore  all  the  patrimony  he  had 
sequestered;  that  he  should  know  that  he  incurred  the 
penalty  proclaimed  by  the  Canons  against '  those  laying 
violent  hands  on  clerics;  that  he  wrote  all  this  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Narbonne.84  So  much  privately.  The  pub- 
lic insult  offered  the  dignity  of  Bishop  and  Legate  de- 
manded a  public  reparation  and  Boniface  publicly  pro- 
vided for  it  with  the  Bull  "  Salvator  mundi,"  which  he 
sent  to  the  king  in  a  letter  beginning :  "  Nuper  ex  ration- 
abilibus  causis"  In  this  he  revoked  all  the  privileges  and 
favors  granted  by  the  Roman  See  to  the  King  of  France, 
which  revocation  was  to  last  until  the  Prelates  of  France 
assembled  in  Council  in  his  presence,  deliberated  concern- 
ing the  same.85  And  on  the  same  day  the  15th  of  December 
he  published  the  famous  Bull :  "  Ausculta"  86  "  Listen, 
"  my  son,  to  the  precepts  of  a  father  and  to  the  instruc- 
"  tions  of  a  master,  who  holds  the  place  of  him  who  is  the 
"  sole  Master  and  Lord ;  open  your  heart  to  the  admoni- 
"  tions  of  a  most  loving  mother,  the  Church ;  dispose  your- 
"  self  to  return  to  God  from  whom  either  by  weakness,  or 
"  by  the  bad  advice  of  others  you  have  strayed  away. 
"...  Let  not  the  king  flatter  himself  that  he  has  no 
"  superior  on  earth  but  God,  and  that  he  is  not  subject  to 

•*  Raynaldus,  28 — History  of  Diff.,  page  661.  *  Raynaldus,  32. 

••  See  Document  at  end  of  work. 


330  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

"  the  power  of  the  Pope.  He  who  thinks  thus  is  an  infidel. " 
—This  preamble  is  followed  by  an  enumeration  of  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff's  complaints  against  the  King  of  France, 
whom  he  charges  with  bestowing  benefices  without  con- 
sulting the  Holy  See;  of  admitting  no  judgment  but  his 
own,  either  within  or  without  his  kingdom,  on  the  unjust 
and  violent  acts  committed  in  his  name;  of  arbitrarily 
seizing  upon  Church  property ;  of  appropriating  to  his  own 
use  the  revenues  of  vacant  sees,  which  abuse  was  not  saved 
from  odium  by  the  specious  name  of  regale;  of  his  debase- 
ment of  the  currency;  and  of  imposing  on  his  sub- 
jects intolerable  burdens.  "  We  have  repeatedly,"  con- 
tinues the  Pope,  "  but  vainly,  warned  Philip  to  return  to 
"  justice.  Therefore  now  we  enjoin  all  the  Archbishops, 
"  bishops,  abbots  and  doctors  in  France  to  meet  Us  in  the 
"month  of  November  of  next  year  (A.  D.  1302),  that,  by 
"  the  help  of  their  counsel,  We  may  take  measures  for  the 
"  reform  of  clerical  affairs  in  the  kingdom  and  the  restor- 
"  ation  of  order."  Boniface  finally  concludes  with  a  most 
pressing  exhortation  to  give  assistance  to  the  Holy  Land. 
This  Bull  although  addressed  to  Philip,  was  sent  by  Boni- 
face to  all  the  Prelates  of  France,87  in  order  that  coming 
to  Rome  for  the  Synod,  they  should  know  in  what  condi- 
tion the  affairs  of  the  King  were,  in  order  the  better  to 
deliberate  on  them.  The  multiplicity  of  copies  has  made 
it  possible  for  us  to  have  the  original  words  of  this  famous 
document  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  fared  badly  in  that 
base  and  shameful  obliteration,  obtained  by  Philip,  of  the 
Bulls  and  letters  of  Boniface  from  the  Vatican  Register, 
chiefly  those  which  stung  him  most.  For  this  reason  the 
copies  which  were  at  hand  were  not  uniformly  complete, 
and  we  preferred  that  published  by  Rossi,88  because  it 
seemed  to  us  to  be  less  deficient  than  that  produced  by 
Raynaldus.89 

The  tone  of  this  Bull  was  vigorous,  but  yet  it  was  tem- 
perate even  in  its  reproaches.  We  do  not  find  any  cen- 
sures, any  threatened  absolution  of  the  French  from  their 
oath  of  obedience  to  their  King,  and  no  forfeiture  of  the 
throne.  Boniface  perhaps  had  no  hope  of  it  succeeding  in 
its  intent,  because  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  one  who  for 
a  long  time  had  progressed  on  a  wicked  path,  would  re- 

81  Eaynaldus,  32.        8sLife  of  Boniface,  chap.  17,  p.  167.         "No.  51. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

trace  his  steps.  But  he  could  not  entirely  persuade  him- 
self, that  Philip  would  arrive  at  such  a  degree  of  iniquity, 
the  like  of  which  was  not  seen  in  past  ages.  Proud  he 
was,  but  still  worse  were  those  false  prophets,  as  Boniface 
called  those  counsellors,  who  with  the  most  refined  malice 
placed  themselves  between  him  and  the  Pope,  violated  the 
truth,  published  falsehoods,  and  aroused  fatal  quarrels. 

But  before  we  come  to  speak  of  the  effects  produced  in 
France  by  the  Bull  "  Asculta,"  it  is  necessary  for  us  to 
tarry  a  moment,  and  rectify,  or  better  set  in  right  order 
the  facts  disarranged  through  an  innocent  error  by  Spon- 
dani,  and  Page  the  younger.  The  reader  must  not  forget 
that  when  these  facts  are  not  viewed  in  their  natural 
order,  an  opinion  founded  on  them  is  always  erroneous. 
They  relate,90  that  Peter  Flotte,  had  been  sent  to  Rome 
by  Philip  to  uphold  him,  not  previous  to  the  publication 
of  the  Bull  "  Ausculta  fili/'  but  instead  after  the  legation, 
which  followed,  of  the  Archdeacon  of  Narbonne,  the 
bearer  of  the  solemn  censures  incurred  by  Philip  through 
his  disobedience.  They,  or  rather  Spondani,  a  little  later 
contradicts  himself,  when  he  declares  that  Flotte  had  fal- 
sified the  Bull  "  Ausculta  Fili,"  and  had  even  substituted 
instead  a  brief  letter  full  of  venom  from  Boniface  to 
Philip,  and  hence  he  was  found  in  Rome  in  1301,  the  pre- 
cise year  in  which  the  Bull  was  written  and  promulgated. 
How  does  he  locate  Flotte  the  messenger  of  Philip,  in 
Rome,  after  the  threatening  legation  of  the  Archdeacon 
of  Narbonne,  which  took  place  in  the  following  year? 
Therefore  Flotte  the  falsifier  of  the  Bull  was  in  Rome 
when  it  was  written,  for  he  could  not  falsify  it,  when  it 
had  been  already  promulgated  in  France.  Hence  we  can 
say  without  any  hesitation,  that  that  messenger  sent  to 
the  Pope  by  Philip  and  the  parliament  of  Senlis,  was  none 
other  than  Peter  Flotte;  and  to  present  himself  before  a 
Pope  and  a  Pope  such  as  Boniface,  after  the  imprisonment 
of  a  legate,  there  was  needed  a  countenance  not  less  brazen 
than  that  of  Flotte,  called  by  Natalis  Alexander :  "  diaboli- 
"cum,  caecutientem  corpore,  caecum  mente,  acetosnm, 
"  fellitum,  haereticum,  discordiae  Regem  inter  et  Eccle- 
"  si  am  Romanam  inventorem."  "  Diabolical,  blind  in 
"  body  and  mind,  full  of  rancor,  a  heretic,  and  a  fomenter 
80  Spond.  1301,  n.  7— Pagi.  Brev.  R.  R.  P.  P.  Bonif.  VIII,  n.  55. 


332 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


of  discord  between  the  King  and  the  Roman  Church."  The 
reader  may  judge  the  Prince  from  this  sort  of  an  ambas- 
sador. Now  Flotte  present  in  Eome,  being  sent,  as  was 
said  to  clear  Philip  of  the  accusation  of  violence  against 
the  Legate,  understood  to  defend  and  justify  every  bad 
action  of  his  Prince,  with  an  assurance  the  like  of  which 
the  most  innocent  of  men  would  not  have  shown  before 
a  most  furious  tyrant.  Boniface  contented  himself  with 
only  threatening  to  strike  Philip  with  the  sword  of  spiri- 
tual censures,  to  which  the  impudent  legate  retorted  with 
this  insulting  reply :  "  Your  sword  is  only  verbal,  but  that 
of  my  master  is  real  and  well-tempered."  By  this  was 
presaged  even  from  that  time  how  this  controversy  of 
respective  rights  was  to  terminate  in  Anagni  by  a  violent 
decision  of  ruffians.  Our  reader  can  imagine  whether 
the  impertinence  of  Flotte  aroused  the  indignation  of 
Boniface ;  not  to  have  resented  it,  would  have  been  a  fault 
in  a  Pontiff.  Then  passing  to  fraud,  Flotte,  in  order 
perhaps  to  forestall  the  Bull  "  Ausculta  fill"  forged  a  cer- 
tain brief  letter  most  bitter  in  tone,  addressed  to  Philip,  to 
which  he  attached  the  name  of  Boniface  as  the  author, 
and  which  Spondani  published,  taking  it  from  the  Victor- 
ine  manuscript :  "  Boniface,  servant  of  the  servants  of 
"  God,  to  Philip  King  of  the  French :  Fear  God  and  keep 
"  His  commandments.  We  wish  you  to  know  that  you 
"  are  subject  to  us  in  both  temporal  and  spiritual  things ; 
"  that  the  granting  of  benefices  and  prebends  belongs  to 
"  you  in  no  way ;  that  if  you  have  in  custody  any  vacant 
"  ones,  you  are  bound  to  reserve  their  revenues  for  those 
"  who  succeed  to  them ;  and  that,  if  you  have  conferred 
"  any  benefices,  we  pronounce  such  collations  to  be  null 
"  and  void.  We  regard  as  heretics  all  who  believe  other- 
wise." Now  to  lessen  the  guilt  of  Philip  some  think  that 
it  was  owing  to  these  deceptions  of  his  ministers  that  he 
transgressed  so  far  beyond  the  limits  of  reverence  Cowards 
Boniface.  But  Philip  was  not  stupid;  we  admit  that  the 
dissension  was  caused  to  a  great  extent  by  infamous  min- 
isters, such  as  Flotte,  but  that  he  allowed  himself  to  be 
controlled  and  led  by  them,  we  shall  never  concede. 
Philip  knew  too  well  the  virile  style  of  Boniface,  with 
which  in  his  letters  he  admonished  him,  to  be  led  to  attri- 
bute to  Mni  this  sickly  note,  so  devoid  of  vigor.  It  was 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  333 

the  whelping  of  a  wanton  cur  compared  to  those  noble 
roarings  that  are  heard  in  the  Register  of  the  Papal  docu- 
ments. But  although  the  forgery  was  most  evident,  yet 
it  was  not  altogether  without  some  result.  These  veno- 
mous writings,  in  which  Boniface  was  depicted  as  a  rav- 
isher  of  crowns,  and  a  disturber  of  peace,  were  circulated 
among  the  people,  who  quick  to  believe  and  incapable  of 
criticising,  decided  unfairly  and  formed  that  terrible 
thing,  which  is  called  public  opinion,  from  which  the 
writers  of  the  time,  a  little  prejudiced  as  they  were  either 
for  party  advantage  or  through  private  spleen,  could  not 
withdraw  themselves.  Hence  the  Bull  " Ausculta  fill" 
was  preceded  and  followed  by  the  evil  rumor  that  Boni- 
face insane  from  ambition  wished  to  dethrone  Philip  and 
make  himself  King  of  France. 

James  de  Normans,  Archdeacon  of  Narbonne,  a  notary 
and  Papal  Legate,  a  man  of  approved  worth,  brought  the 
Bull  into  France,  where  Peter  Flotte  returned,  the  bearer 
of  the  pretended  brief,  and  a  spreader  of  the  blackest 
calumnies  on  the  character  of  Boniface.  De  Normans  was 
commissioned  to  support  by  word  of  mouth  that  which 
the  Bull  had  expressed.  We  know  not  where  Henry 
Spondani91  had  learned  that  he  had  a  secret  order  from 
the  Pope  to  declare  the  French  people  absolved  from  their 
oath  of  allegiance  to  Philip,  and  that  the  kingdom  de- 
volved to  the  Roman  See,  if  Philip  refused  to  conform  to 
this  Bull.  This  was  perhaps  a  calumny  of  Flotte.  The 
Legate  then  appeared  before  Philip,  and  explained  to  him 
the  contents  of  the  Bull,  which  are  reduced  to  the  follow- 
ing heads :  that  the  Pope  is  superior  to  princes ;  it  is  clear 
from  that  which  follows  that  Boniface  spoke  of  spiritual 
dominion,  since  there  is  no  word  of  temporal  affairs,  ex- 
cept the  hint  at  the  debasement  of  the  public  money  and 
the  oppression  of  the  poor  subjects ; 92  that  the  king  can- 
not without  the  permission  of  the  Roman  See  take  the 
revenues  of  vacant  churches,  and  confer  benefices ; 93  that 

91  Spondani,  n.  7. 

MAtque  uti  de  mutatione  monetae,  aliisque  gravaminibus,  et  injuriosis 
processibus,  per  te,  ac  tuos  magnis  ac  parvis  regni  ejusdem  incolis 
irrogatis,  ac  habilis  contra  eos,  quae  processu  temporis  explicari  poterunt, 
taceamus 

93  Quod    in    ecclesiasticis    dignitatibus     ....     Beneficiis     ...     in 


334 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


he  should  not  take  possession  of  the  goods  of  the  churches 
as  fiefs,  and  for  that  reason  he  cannot  by  right  of  fief 
summon  clerics  before  his  tribunal ; 94  that  he  should 
only  with  moderation  make  use  of  his  right  of  "  regalia  " 
over  the  revenues  of  vacant  sees.95  We  are  not  looking 
now  at  the  modifications  which  the  civil  laws  made  on  the 
rights  of  the  churches  in  later  times;  we  are  speaking  of 
them  as  they  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  XlVth  century, 
as  Boniface  wished  to  maintain  them  and  as  they  were 
recognized  everywhere,  even  in  France.96  But  Philip  and 
his  ministers  and  even  Bossuet  would  not  read  in  the 
Bull  the  sentiments  of  the  Pope,  but  interpreted  them 
according  to  their  own  liking.  According  to  them  these 
defences  were  only  an  insane  effort  of  Boniface  to  make  the 
king  of  France  a  vassal.97  So  when  de  Normans  had  ex- 
plained his  legation  and  had  read  the  Papal  Bull,  Philip 
and  his  courtiers  amazed  at  the  excessive  requests  of 
Boniface,  showed  themselves  greatly  disturbed.  They 
hastily  entered  into  a  consultation  in  which  flattery  ex- 
erted itself  and  they  decided  to  convoke  a  parliament  of 
the  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  the  Abbots,  the  religious 
orders  and  the  secular  clergy.  In  the  meantime  Philip, 
who  could  not  bear  the  sight  of  that  Bull,  on  February 
llth,  1302,  ordered  it  to  be  burned  publicly  in  presence  of 

curia,  vel  extra  .  .  R.  Pontifex  suramam,  et  potiorem  obtineat  potsta- 
tem :  ad  te  tamen  hujusmodi  ecclesiarum  dignitatum  .  .  .  bene- 
ficiorum  collatio,  non  potest  quomodo  libet  pertinere,  nee  pertinent:  nee 
per  tuam  collationem,  in  ipsis,  vel  eorum  aliquo,  potest  alicui  jus  acquiri, 
sine  auctoritat  et  consensu  Ap.  Sedis. 

M  Prelates  insuper,  et  alias  ecclesiasticas  personas  .  .  .  etiam  super 
personalibus  actionibus,  juribus,  et  immobilibus  bonis,  quae  a  te  non  ten- 
entur  in  feudam  ad  tuum  judicium  protrahis,  et  coarctas  .  .  .  licet 
in  clericos  et  personas  ecclesiasticas  nulla  sit  laicis  attributa  potestas. 

""Vacantium  etiam  regni  Ecclesiraum  redditus,  et  proventus,  quos  tu  et 
tui  appellatio  Regalia  per  azusum,  tu  ac  ipsi  tui  non  moderate  percipitis 
sed  immoderate  consumitio. 

99  Let  the  reader  consult  among  the  Italians,  Bianchi ;  "  The  Power  and 
Policy  of  the  Church,"  Book  VI,  sect.  VI,  Tom.  II ;  and  among  the  French, 
Antonine  Thomas :  "  The  Power  of  the  Church,"  chap.  XIII. 

97  Tom.  I,  par.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  24 :  Quas  si  valuissent,  vel  de  regni  regi- 
mine  R.  Pontifex  Romae,  rege  sive  absente  sive  praesente,  decerneret, 
nempe  regnaret  Pontifex:  ipse  rex  nudum  nomen  regis  obtineret.  Now 
who  would  believe  that  Bossuet  from  the  Bull  "  Ausculta "  could  have 
drawn  this  consequence? 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  335 

all  the  nobility  then  in  Paris,  and  afterwards  the  news  of 
the  act  was  proclaimed  by  a  public  crier  through  the 
streets.  It  was  the  Count  of  Artois  who  having  snatched 
the  Bull  from  the  hands  of  the  Legate,  threw  it  into  the 
fire.  History  records  only  two  public  burnings  of  Papal 
Bulls.  This  one  done  by  a  French  king,  and  the  other  by 
a  friar,  namely  Martin  Luther  at  Wittenberg.  Every  one 
knows  the  sad  consequences  which  ensued  from  the  sacre- 
ligious  insolence  of  the  friar ;  and  the  reader  may  imagine 
what  was  in  the  minds  of  the  people  and  French  clergy  as 
a  result  of  this  act  of  Philip.98  The  Legate  was  banished, 
and  the  other  Legate  the  Bishop  of  Pamiers,  was  allowed 
to  depart  with  him.  Guards  were  placed  at  the  frontier, 
and  Philip  forbade  any  of  the  French  clergy  to  go  to 
Rome,  and  to  send  money  out  of  the  country.  All  those 
summoned  to  the  memorable  parliament  met  in  the  great 
church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  on  April  10th,  1302.  The 
King  presided,  and  Peter  Flotte  arising  forthwith  spoke 
as  follows  in  his  name :  "  A  certain  letter  from  the  Pope 
"  has  been  brought  to  us  by  the  Archbishop  of  Nar  bonne, 
"  which  declares  that  we  are  subject  to  him  in  the  tem- 
"  poral  administration  of  this  kingdom ;  and  to  him  and 
"  not  to  God  alone,  as  has  always  been  believed,  do  we 
"  owe  our  crown."  Then  summing  up  the  complaints  of 
the  government  against  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  he  con- 
cludes :  "  He,  the  Pope,  aims  at  subjecting  the  King  of 
"  France  to  the  power  of  the  Holy  See ;  but  this  monarch 
"  protests  here  before  you  all  that  he  acknowledges  no 
"  superior  but  God  alone ;  and  he  calls  upon  you,  as  your 
"  friend  and  sovereign,  to  lend  your  earnest  co-operation 
"  for  the  support  of  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  nation  and 
"  of  its  church ;  and  you  should  return  an  open  and  quick 
"  reply  to  these  propositions." — The  Barons  and  syndics 
of  the  communes  having  retired  to  deliberate,  soon  re- 
turned ready  to  do  the  King's  pleasure,  and  as  his  most 
obedient  servants,  to  give  to  him  not  only  their  fortunes 
but  also  their  lives,  in  assisting  to  resist  the  covetous 
Pope.  The  spiritual  lords  took  a  longer  time  to  deliber- 
ate. Their  necks  were  bound  by  an  ugly  halter  they  were 
unable  to  unloose.  Obedience  to  the  King  meant  rebellion 
to  the  Pope ;  refusal  to  do  the  will  of  the  King  would  start 

M  Hist,  du  Differ.,  pp.  68  and  69. 


336  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

a  furious  conflagration  which  would  be  injurious  to  the 
church  of  France  for  a  long  time.  They  returned  to  the 
King  not  with  offerings,  but  with  counsel  and  admonitions, 
representing  how  the  Pope  did  not  think  of  offending  the 
liberty  of  the  kingdom  and  the  dignity  of  the  Prince;  and 
how  they  should  not  endanger  their  necessary  union  with 
the  Eoman  See.  But  Philip  and  with  him  all  the  Barons 
did  not  care  to  listen  to  more  sermons,  and  they  notified 
those  prelates  that  if  they  did  not  at  once  give  a  satisfac- 
tory answer,  the  clergy  would  be  proclaimed  hostile  to  the 
King  and  to  the  state.  Then  the  prelates  knowing  they  had 
to  deal  with  Philip,  and  with  a  flock  of  enslaved  barons, 
allowed  it  to  be  drawn  from  their  lips,  that  either  by 
reason  of  the  fiefs  they  held,  or  by  reason  of  loyalty  to  the 
King  which  was  obligatory  on  all  even  the  clerics  they 
were  all  disposed  by  counsel  and  every  other  aid  to  de- 
fend the  King,  in  person  and  in  dignity,  and  in  the  liberty 
of  the  realm ;  but  they  besought  him  to  allow  them  to  go 
to  Kome,  so  as  not  to  be  wanting  in  obedience  to  the  Pope, 
who  called  them.  He  answered  this  request  with  positive 
refusal.  Such  was  the  liberty  of  the  Gallican  church,  for 
the  defence  of  which  Philip  was  willing  to  offer  both  his 
wealth,  his  life,  his  sons,  his  wife  and  we  know  not  what 
else. 

The  Barons  reported  the  decisions  of  the  assembly  of 
Notre  Dame  to  Boniface  in  a  letter,  which  they  addressed 
to  the  College  of  Cardinals.  The  clergy  wrote  directly  to 
the  Pope.  The  former  wrote  in  the  French  language ;  and 
Fleury  remarks  that  they  did  this  in  order  to  show  even 
by  their  words  that  their  sentiments  were  French.  They 
did  nothing  but  repeat  what  the  King  had  said  in  the 
assembly;  they  only  added  that  the  opinion  of  the  Pope 
was  deplorable,  and  worthy  of  the  times  of  Antichrist. 
They  charged  the  cardinals  to  leave  Philip  in  peace,  that 
he  might  be  able  to  fight  the  infidels  in  the  Holy  Land. 
Thirty-one  lords,  and  the  first  men  of  the  kingdom  signed 
their  names  to  the  letter.  The  prelates  themselves  being 
astonished  at  the  novelty  of  the  doctrine  of  Boniface  on 
the  subjection  of  the  King  to  the  sovereign  Pontiff  in 
matters  temporal,  besought  him  with  tears  to  dispense 
them  from  the  obligation  of  going  to  Rome,  and  repre- 
sented to  him  that  censures  would  have  little  or  no  effect 


HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  337 

on  Philip  and  his  abettors.  These  letters,  which  suffici- 
ently manifest  the  shameful  imbecility  of  the  clergy,  were 
brought  to  the  Pope  by  the  three  Bishops  of  Noyon,  Con- 
stance and  Beziers."  Philip  dispatched  the  Bishop  of 
Auxerre  to  obtain  from  the  Pope  a  postponement  of  the 
council.100  This  fact,  which  even  Spondani  relates  al- 
though he  quotes  falsely  the  monk  continuator  of  Nangis, 
published  by  Achery,  clearly  shows  us  that  another  letter 
bearing  the  title  of  Philip  to  Boniface,  in  which  that  king 
descends  to  the  vilest  abuse  against  Boniface,  was  purely 
the  work  of  Flotte,  truly  possessed  by  the  devil.  Although 
unfit  to  appear  on  the  page  of  history,  yet  for  the  informa- 
tion of  our  readers  we  produce  it.101  "  Philip,  by  the 
"  grace  of  God,  King  of  the  French,  Boniface,  who  giveth 
"  himself  out  for  sovereign  Pontiff,  little  or  no  greeting. 
"  Let  thy  Extreme  Fatuity  know  that  we  are  subject  to 
"  no  one  in  things  temporal,  that  the  presentation  of 
"  churches  and  prebends  that  are  vacant  belongeth  to  us 
"  by  kingly  right,  and  the  revenues  therefrom  are  ours ; 
"  that  the  presentations  already  made  and  to  be  made  are 
"  valid  both  now  and  hereafter,  that  we  will  firmly  sup- 
"  port  the  possessors  of  them,  and  that  we  hold  as  sense- 
"  less  and  demented  those  who  think  otherwise."  The 
French  messengers,  the  bearers  of  these  letters,  were  re- 
ceived in  full  consistory.  The  Cardinal  of  Porto,  Friar 
John  Minio  of  Murro  of  the  Friars  Minor,  arose  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  Pope  and  all  the  Cardinals  addressed 
them,  taking  his  text  from  Jeremias :  "  Lo,  I  have  set 
"  thee  this  day  over  the  nations  and  over  kingdoms,  to 
"  root  up  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  waste,  and  to  destroy 

"Jordan,  MS.  Vat.  n.  1960. 

100  Jordan :  "  Rex  quoque  episcopum  Antisidorensem  mittit  rogans  ut 
suspenderet  usque  ad  tempus  magis  postea  opportunum."  Rayn.  1302, 
n.  11. 

i«  «  philippus  Dei  gratia  Francorum  Rex  Bonifacio  gerenti  se  pro  summo 
pontifice,  salutem  modicam  seu  nullam,  Sciat  tua  maxima  fatuitas,  in 
temporalibus  nos  alicui  subesse.  Ecclesiarum  ac  praebendarum  vacantium 
collationem  ad  nos  jure  Regio  pertinere,  fructus  earum  nos  tros  facere: 
collationes  a  nobis  factas,  et  faciendas  fore  validas  in  proeteritum  et 
futurum,  et  earum  possessores  contra  omnes  virliter  nos  tueri:  secus 
autem  credentes  fatuos  et  dementes  reputamus.  Datum  Parisiis,  etc." 
See  Page  Brev.  Rom.  Pont.  73,  page  559.  Also  it  is  related  in  PHistoire 
du  Diff. 


338  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  and  to  build,  and  to  plant." — "  How  truly  applicable  to 
"  Peter  and  his  successors  are  those  divinely  revealed 
"  words  of  the  Prophet,  that  he  was  placed  over  all  to 
"  destroy  and  to  build  up,  just  as  one  deputed  for  the 
tl  degradation  of  the  wicked  and  the  exaltation  of  the  good. 
"  There  has  arisen  a  quarrel  between  the  Pope  and  the 
"  Koman  Church  on  one  side,  and  the  King  of  France  and 
"  his  ministers  on  the  other,  which  in  truly  slight  and 
"  trivial  causes  had  its  origin.  But  if  the  causes  of  the 
"  irritation  were  slight,  most  serious  were  those  which 
"  moved  the  Papal  mind  to  resort  to  remedies.  A  long 
"  and  serious  complaint  had  been  made  to  the  Pontiff  in 
"  relation  to  the  disturbed  state  of  affairs  in  the  French 
"  kingdom,  and  of  the  oppression  of  the  churches.  There- 
"  fore  a  private  letter  was  written  with  the  consent  of  the 
"  Pope  and  the  Cardinals,  which  was  read  and  reread 
"  often,  pondered  and  considered  in  full  Consistory,  and 
"  was  full  of  charity  and  sweetness,  and  kind  admonitions 
"  to  the  King.  Some  went  about  declaring  that  in  it  was 
tl  contained  that  judgment  that  the  King  owes  the  crown 
"  he  wears  to  the  Church,  whereas  there  was  not  a  sylla- 
"  ble  of  this  either  in  that  letter,  or  on  the  lips  of  the 
"  Pope  or  the  Cardinals.  The  source  whence  a  certain 
"  other  letter  came  addressed  to  the  King  is  unknown ; 
"  but  let  it  be  known  positively  that  it  was  the  work 
"  neither  of  the  Pope  nor  the  Cardinals.  Philip  is  an  hon- 
"  est  and  Catholic  Prince,  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  he 
"  is  surrounded  by  evil  advisers.  Why  did  the  King  take 
"  so  much  to  heart  the  calling  of  the  French  prelates  to 
"  Kome  for  consultation  on  most  serious  matters?  It  was 
"  not  the  summons  of  strangers,  of  rivals  or  of  enemies, 
"  but  of  friends  and  servants,  certainly  most  jealous  of  his 
"  honor,  and  of  all  the  kingdom.  To  be  called  in  fine  to 
"  Koine  was  not  to  be  called  to  the  extreme  limits  of  the 
"  earth,  nor  to  dwell  there  eternally,  but  return  after 
"  transacting  business.  Why  did  Philip  show  himself  so 
"  badly  disposed  to  the  pleasure  of  the  Church  in  the  mat- 
"  ter  of  conferring  prebends?  The  right  of  patronage  and 
"  presentation  is  admitted,  but  the  bestowal  and  enjoy- 
"  ment  of  them  without  Papal  approval  did  not  belong  to 
"  a  layman.  Philip  claims  the  right  by  prescription.  But 
"  this  does  not  exist  nor  does  he  prove  he  possesses  it,  as 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  339 

"  he  asked  the  Pope  for  the  privilege  of  that  which  he 
"  now  said  was  prescribed.  For  he  who  has  possession 
"  of  a  thing  of  right,  does  not  ask  a  privilege.  The  Pon- 
"  tiff  has  the  fullness  of  power,  inheriting  it  from  Christ, 
"  is  a  truth  that  is  to  be  witnessed  to  even  by  blood ;  and 
"  for  this  reason  not  only  does  he  become  judge  in  spiri- 
"  tual  things,  but  also  in  temporal  things  whenever  there 
"  enters  the  question  of  sin."  Boniface  himself  then  fol- 
lowed with  a  discourse,  in  which  he  displayed  such  sweet- 
ness of  manner,  such  cogent  reasoning,  and  such  mildness 
of  temper,  that  it  is  really  a  wonder,  when  we  consider 
whom  the  legates  represented,  and  the  object  of  their  mis- 
sion. At  first  he  recalled  that  holy  bond  by  which  France 
truly  could  be  said  to  have  been  wedded  to  the  Roman  See 
in  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  and  how  on  the  observance  of 
those  espousals,  according  to  St.  Remigius,  the  whole  pros- 
perity of  the  kingdom  and  the  king  depended.  This  fact  he 
had  called  to  the  attention  of  Philip,  while  he  was  a 
legate  in  France,  and  this  remembrance  Philip  acknowl- 
edged with  pleasure  and  gratitude.  A  man  of  perdition, 
Peter  Flotte,  with  his  satellites  the  Counts  of  Artois,  and 
of  St.  Paul,  in  the  worst  spirit  tried  to  sever  this  solemn 
union,  by  so  urging  Philip  to  the  most  desperate  projects. 
While  the  College  of  Cardinals  were  considering  maturely 
the  Papal  letters  to  Philip,  Flotte  had  forged  another, 
which  he  presented  to  the  King,  in  the  beginning  of  which 
he  had  inserted  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Pope  to 
make  him  a  Papal  vassal.  The  Pope  incensed  at  these 
indignities,  continued  in  a  spirited  manner :  "  During 
"  forty  years  we  have  studied  law,  and  have  learned  that 
"  on  earth  two  powers,  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  have 
"  been  ordained  by  God.  Who  can  believe  that  such  fool- 
"  ishness  can  have  entered  into  our  mind  to  unite  in  the 
"  Pontiff  one  supreme  power?  But  on  the  other  hand  who 
"  can  in  matters  of  sin?  And  coming  to  the  question  of 
"  the  conferring  of  benefices,  we  have  often  declared  to 
"  the  messengers  of  the  King  that  it  is  our  wish,  for  his 
"  spiritual  good  that  he  do  licitly  that  which  he  had  done 
"  illicitly,  being  most  ready  to  gratify  his  every  wish ; 
"  for  it  is  certain  that  the  Canons  forbid  benefices  to  be 
"  conferred  by  a  layman,  as  if  he  were  invested  with  spiri- 
"  tual  power.  We  have  conceded  to  the  King  the  power  to 


340  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  confer  one  canonry  in  each  church  of  the  kingdom ;  and 
"  to  dispose  of  all  the  prebends  in  the  church  of  Paris, 
"  provided  they  be  conferred  on  Doctors  of  Divinity,  or 
"  Law,  or  any  other  ecclesiastics  distinguished  for  learn- 

"  ing We  desire  nothing  more  than  peace  and 

"  friendship  with  the  King,  as  we  have  always  had  an 
"  affection  for  France,  insomuch  that  we  were  considered 
"  more  French  than  Italian.  But  if  then  Philip  does  not 
"  retrace  his  steps,  and  allow  the  prelates  to  come,  it  is 
"  our  duty  not  to  allow  the  affair  to  go  unpunished."  102 

The  doctrine  which  the  Cardinal  of  Porto  and  the  Pope 
expressed  in  full  consistory,  was  confided  to  letters  which 
were  to  be  carried  to  France  by  the  Bishop  Legates.  The 
Cardinals  replied  to  the  nobles,  the  Pope  to  the  Bishops.103 
Now  if  from  the  Bull  "  Ausculta  fili/'  the  King  and  his 
followers  had  apprehended  the  excessive  ambition  of 
Boniface  of  wanting  to  rule  France  in  temporal  affairs, 
those  discourses  and  those  letters  which  expressed  the 
contrary,  should  have  removed  all  suspicion  of  such  from 
their  minds.  But  Philip  and  his  ministers  renewed  their 
assertions  and  their  complaints;  very  evident  proofs  that 
these  loud  lamentations  were  only  tactics  and  a  pretext 
with  which  they  covered  themselves  that  they  might  act 
according  to  their  own  will  in  the  things  which  concerned 
the  authority  purely  spiritual  of  the  Pope.  Here  it  is 
necessary  to  enlighten  the  reader  on  a  point  without  which 
the  subsequent  acts  of  Boniface  might  appear  in  contra- 
diction with  the  language  we  previously  reported,  especi- 
ally when  he  will  have  heard  him  speak,  in  full  consistory 
and  in  another  Bull,  of  the  dual  power  in  the  Pope  and  the 
subjection  of  kings  to  the  latter. 

Boniface  and  the  cardinals  with  him  declared  that  they 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  French 
kingdom,  but  that  the  King  was  subject  to  the  Pope  in 
matters  of  sin.  We  do  not  wish  to  enter  into  a  discussion 
of  that  question  of  the  Papal  and  royal  powers,  debated 
between  the  partisans  of  the  Pope  and  the  satellites  of 
the  King,  both  because  the  times  have  changed,  and  be- 
cause we  do  not  believe  that  the  palm  of  martyrdom  is 
held  in  reserve  for  historians  who  defend  old  truths,  even 
if  indeed  truth  can  grow  old.  But  we  ought  and  we  will 

loa  MS.  Vittorino.  Spondani,  fol.  82,  84.  10>  Hist,  du  Diff.  p.  65. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  341 

explain  the  terms  in  order  that  the  reader  may  know  what 
happened  between  Boniface  and  Philip;  and  that  briefly 
and  simply,  that  it  may  be  understood  by  all.  It  was  the 
common  and  accepted  opinion  in  the  time  of  Boniface  and 
even  now-a-days,  it  is  believed  that  every  faithful  Chris- 
tian was  subject  in  spiritual  things  to  the  Vicar  of  Christ. 
Prince  or  Plebeian  if  he  desired  to  be  a  Catholic,  should 
remain  thus  subjected.  But  from  this  truth,  it  did  not 
follow  that  the  Prince,  or  the  father  of  a  family  should 
leave  to  the  Pope  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  or  of  the 
home;  (nor  would  the  Popes  have  had  the  desire  or  lei- 
sure to  attend  to  these)  ;  however,  it  did  follow  that  when- 
ever they  departed  from  the  evangelical  law  they  became 
subject  to  the  decision,  the  admonitions  and  the  punish- 
ments of  the  Pope,  and  should  bear  them  patiently.  There- 
fore the  recognized  Papal  authority,  and  human  peccability 
were  the  basis  of  the  truth ;  that  the  Pope  was  superior  to 
every  one,  who  wished  to  be  a  Catholic.  And  since  the 
dogma  is  unchangeable  and  this  world  will  never  be  free 
from  this  cursed  proneness  to  sin,  it  necessarily  followed 
that  this  supremacy  should  be  perpetual  and  unchange- 
able. From  this  it  is  evident  that  inasmuch  as  not  all 
sins,  or  violations  of  the  evangelical  laws,  are  purely 
spiritual,  but  some  are  concerned  with  material  things, 
the  Pope  who  is  the  judge  of  them,  indirectly  touched  the 
object  of  the  sinner's  disorder.  Thus  for  example,  to  a 
robber  he  did  not  only  say,  "  you  have  acted  wickedly  in 
"  stealing,"  but  he  further  added,  "  restore  the  booty." 
Thus  in  short  he  judged  the  sin  and  indirectly  the  object 
of  the  sin.  This  is  the  reason  why  a  Prince  in  those  times 
wanting  to  be  a  Catholic,  was  subjected  to  the  Pope  not 
only  in  things  purely  spiritual  but  also  material,  when 
these  latter  were  the  object  of  his  sin.  So  if  one  place 
himself  in  the  position,  for  example  as  Philip,  of  falsify- 
ing the  public  money,  of  shedding  the  blood  of  his  sub- 
jects, and  waging  an  unjust  war,  he  should  not  resent  the 
voice  of  the  Pope,  if  he  should  say  at  first  "  you  have  done 
"  evil,  return  the  good ;  because  you  are  a  counterfeiter 
"  and  unjust,"  and  then  indirectly :  "  withdraw  from  cir- 
culation that  counterfeit  money,  restore  the  property  of 
others;  do  not  shed  the  blood  of  your  people,  which  does 
not  belong  to  you.  And  this  is  how  the  Pontiff  exercised 


342         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

over  the  King  and  kingdoms  not  a  direct,  but  also  an  in- 
direct supremacy.  All  Catholics  in  the  Middle  Ages 
thought  thus,  and  in  the  same  manner  that  the  species  is 
formed  from  the  individuals,  and  the  genus  from  the 
species,  so  from  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  individ- 
uals was  formed  a  general  opinion,  which  became  the 
public  law,  by  which  the  Pope  not  only  judged  Princes 
in  temporal  affairs  by  reason  of  sin,  but  also  judged  them 
when  requested  to  do  so  as  a  civil  magistrate.  In  those 
times  he  who  did  not  wish  to  acknowledge  this  judgeship, 
threw  off  at  one  toss  also  the  evangelical  yoke.  Wherefore 
he  who  wished  to  be  a  Catholic,  and  would  not  accept  in 
this  fulness  the  Papal  supremacy,  was  in  open  contradic- 
tion with  himself  and  was  guilty  of  two  sins,  one  against 
faith  and  one  against  reason.  Thus  Philip  the  Fair,  who 
above  all  wanted  to  be  considered  very  Christian,  was 
less  than  a  Christian,  and  less  than  reasonable,  when  he 
refused  to  submit  to  the  Pope.  On  the  contrary,  we  cite 
this  fact  for  greater  clearness,  Henry  VIII  of  England 
sinned  only  against  faith  and  not  against  reason.  For 
having  changed  the  principles,  he  had  all  latitude  to 
change  the  consequences.  He  said :  "  I  am  the  Pope  " 
(that  was  the  principle).  "  That  which  is  the  more  pleas- 
ing to  me  to  do,  will  be  right,"  (this  was  the  consequence.) 
Men  have  always  debated  between  the  admission  of  a 
principle  and  the  rejection  of  the  consequences,  making 
always,  by  a  sad  vicissitude,  a  failure  of  one  or  the  other. 
Up  to  the  XVIth  century  the  failure  had  been  in  the  conse- 
quences, and  principles  were  betrayed,  though  admitted; 
and  these  anomalies,  or  injuries  to  human  reason,  were 
infected  with  heresy,  because  they  had  occurred  in  matters 
of  religion.  In  the  XVIth  century  when  Martin  Luther 
preached  reform,  reason  tired  of  the  struggles,  of  these  con- 
tradictions, overturned  the  principles;  the  consequences 
were  logical,  the  heresies  were  unalloyed,  but  not  guilty 
of  an  abuse  of  reason.  In  which  of  these  two  states  do 
we  find  ourselves  now-a-days?  We  will  not  say,  because 
the  mission  of  a  historian  is  to  narrate  past,  not  present 
events.  We  hope  the  learned  will  willingly  be  indulgent 
to  the  simplicity  of  our  reasoning,  when  they  consider 
that  it  is  not  written  by  a  doctor  of  laws,  and  that  many 
will  not  be  such  who  read  these  pages. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  343 

This,  however,  will  suffice  to  throw  a  little  light  on  the 
object  of  the  controversy  between  Philip  and  Boni- 
face. But  we  will  not  without  comment,  pass  over  those 
prelates  of  the  parliament  of  Senlis,  who  were  so  weak 
and  cowardly  as  to  let  themselves  be  vanquished  by  Philip. 
It  is  necessary  for  them  to  appear  before  us,  in  order  that 
their  conduct  with  regard  to  the  Pope  in  this  controversy 
may  be  shown  aright.  If  the  things  previously  stated  are 
true,  as  they  seem  to  us  to  be,  it  follows  that  the  body  of 
bishops  and  other  clerics  in  those  times  should  have  held 
themselves  as  a  most  solid  wall  to  defend  not  only  the 
direct  authority  of  the  Pope,  but  also  the  indirect,  as  the 
latter  is  the  legitimate  and  necessary  consequence  of  the 
former.104  And  since  they  form  a  body  so  long  as  they 
are  joined  to  the  head,  it  is  evident,  that  in  giving  aid  to 
him  who  attempts  the  moral  life  of  the  head,  is  to  attempt 
their  own  life.  "  We  are  most  devoted  sons  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff,"  said  they,  "  and  most  faithful  subjects  of 
"  Philip."  These  were  futile  words.  Filial  devotion  to 
the  Pope  had  been  destroyed  at  once  by  their  submission 
to  Philip,  not  as  a  Prince,  but  as  an  enemy  of  the  Papal 
supremacy.  Their  weak  virtue  did  not  bind  them  very 
strongly  to  the  Pope,  and  they  were  wavering  between 
him  and  Philip.  Obliged  to  decide  they  preferred  to  throw 
themselves  into  the  arms  of  Philip,  rather  than  on  the 
bosom  of  their  head,  because  that  wavering  on  their  part 
was  already  a  separation  from  the  Pope.  They  saw  after- 
wards the  need  of  justifying  their  action  by  proclaiming 
Philip  a  most  patient  Prince,  Philip  who  had  deprived 
them  of  their  sacred  patrimonies,  who  would  not  even 
allow  them  to  repair  to  Rome,  and  who  caused  them  to 
cry  out  in  desperation;  and  afterwards  they  represented 
Boniface  as  an  ambitious  persecutor,  who,  as  they  well 
knew  took  action  only  to  hold  in  the  path  of  duty  their 
criminal  benefactor. 

But  this  was  not  decisive,  it  left  them  still  wavering, 
as  the  Prince  was  not  their  natural  head  in  the  exercise 
of  their  priestly  power,  and  so  a  strange  member  they 

104  By  direct  power  the  author  means  that  which  Jesus  Christ  has  given 
to  the  Church  over  consciences:  and  by  the  indirect  power,  that  which 
flows  from  this  power  purely  divine,  in  its  relation  with  temporal  things. 
(Note  of  the  translator.) 


344  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

could  not  receive  from  him  the  food  of  life,  but  rather  an 
impulse  to  death.  Thus  they  remained  in  bad  odor  with 
the  Pope,  and  unfriendly  with  the  King.  Left  in  such  a 
manner  dismembered,  they  should  then  provide  for  them- 
selves the  means  to  exercise  their  power.  Whence  derive 
the  power?  Not  from  the  Pope  whom  they  accused  of 
boundless  pretensions,  but  rather  from  the  Prince  whom 
they  considered  their  protector,  whilst  he  drove  them  to 
extremes,  when  he  compelled  them  to  desert  the  Pope. 
Then  it  was  they  sought  the  royal  privileges  and  pur- 
chased them  with  that  liberty,  which  is  the  life  of  the 
power  and  which  naturally  flowed  to  them  from  the  Pope. 
Therefore  enslaved,  they  called  themselves  free;  and  in 
that  slavery  they  scattered  the  seeds  of  that  later  liberty, 
called  Gallican.  A  striking  proof  that  what  are  called 
privileges  of  a  particular  church  to  liberate  it  from  the 
Roman,  and  to  exempt  it  from  the  dependence  in  which 
the  others  are  in  relation  to  the  mother  and  mistress  of 
churches,  are  not  privileges  at  all  but  fatal  occasions  of 
severing  the  salutary  bond  of  unity.  One  God,  one 
Church,  one  is  the  obligation  of  adhesion  to  the  super- 
natural truth,  before  which  all  are  equal.  In  discussing 
these  things  we  wish  to  remark  that  if  Philip  a  Catholic 
committed  a  grave  offence  against  human  reason  by  re- 
jecting the  indirect  power  of  the  Pope  over  him  as  a  secu- 
lar prince,  the  French  clergy  transgressed  much  more 
grievously  by  their  shameful  surrender  to  court  influence. 
We  speak  not  of  the  consequences,  because  all  know  them 
and  because  it  is  dangerous  to  touch  upon  them.  In  those 
times  there  were  very  many,  and  even  Frenchmen  wrho 
defended  this  Roman  doctrine,  among  whom  we  find  Hugh 
of  St.  Victor,105  St.  Thomas,106  St.  Bonaventure,107  and 
Durandus.108  Moreover  that  ardent  debater,  Friar  John 
of  Paris,  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  in  the  work  "  De  Re- 
gia  potestate  et  Papali,''  in  which  he  defends  Philip,  gives 
utterance  to  a  certain  opinion,  which,  if  Boniface  had  ex- 
pressed it,  would  have  aroused  a  storm.109  But  among  all 

105  Book  2,  part  2,  chap.  4.  109In  fine  2  Senten. 

im  De  Eccles.  Hierarch.  Part.  2,  cap.  I.     los  De  Origine  Jurisd.  Quest.  5. 

io»  a  papa  vero,  qui  est  Bupermum  Caput  non  solum  clericorum,  sed  et 
generaliter  omnium  fidelium,  ut  fideles  sunt,  tanquam  informator  fidei  et 
morum;  in  quo  casu  omnia  bona  fidelium  sunt  communia,  et  communi- 


HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII.        345 

these  special  mention  should  be  made  of  Blessed  Egidius 
Colonna,  who  educated  in  the  wisdom  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Aquin,  was  a  singular  defender  of  Boniface  in  his  con- 
troversy with  Philip  the  Fair.  He  was  born  in  Rome  in 
1247,  or  thereabouts,  and  being  a  member  of  that  powerful 
Colonna  family,  we  may  know  if  he  had  any  love  for 
Boniface.  At  first  he  studied  the  sciences  in  his  own 
country,  then  having  entered  the  Augustinian  order,  he 
was  sent  to  Paris  in  1269  to  prosecute  his  studies.  He 
had  as  teacher  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  whose  doctrine  he 
afterwards  defended  against  William  de  Mora,  a  Friar 
Minor  of  Oxford.  Crevier  110  asserts  that  Egidius  became 
the  most  famous  doctor  of  his  time  in  Paris.  In  fact  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  then  prevailing,  he  was  called  by 
the  splendid  surnames  of  Prince  of  Theologians,111  the 
Most  Profound  Doctor.112  He  was  appointed  tutor  to 
Philip  the  Fair,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  treatise,  "  De 
Regimine  Principum,"^z  a  work  different  from  that  at- 
tributed to  St.  Thomas.  From  the  education  he  received, 
according  to  Crevier,  Philip  derived  his  love  for  learn- 
ing.114 When  after  having  been  anointed  as  king  at 
Rheims,  Philip  was  entering  Paris,  Egidius  met  him  and 
paid  homage  to  him  in  a  eulogistic  speech.115  This  made 
him  very  dear  to  the  King.  But  perhaps  he  was  even 
dearer  to  Pope  Boniface,  in  whose  favor  he  wrote  the 
treatise  "  De  Renunciatione  Papae"  when  owing  to  the 
singular  renunciation  of  St.  Peter  Celestine,  many  were 
undecided  in  relation  to  the  legitimacy  of  the  Papacy  of 

canda,  etiam  calices  Ecclesiarum;  habet  bona  exteriora  fidelium  dispen- 
sare,  et  exponenda  decernere,  prout  expedit  necessitati  communi  fidei." 
Chap.  7.  And  chap.  14 ;  "  Si  princeps  esset  haereticus  et  incorrigibilis,  et 
contemptor  ecclesiasticae  censurae,  posset  Papa  aliquod  facere  in  populo, 
ut  privaretur  ille  secular!  honore,  et  deponeretur  a  populo.  Et  hoc 
faceret  Papa  in  crimine  Ecclesiastico,  cujus  cognitio  ad  ipsum  pertinet, 
excomraunicando,  scilicet  omnes  qui  ei  ut  Domino  obedirent."  See  Ordin. 
de  Script.  Eccl.  75,  page  635. 

""History  of  the  University  of  Paris,  Tom.  2,  page  106- 

mCave.  Saec.  Scholast.  Sol.  658. 

M2Labbe,  de  Script.  Eccles.  Tom.  1,  page  13. 

Ms  Tiraboschi.  Hist,  of  Literature.  St.  74,  page  114.  See  Oudin.  de 
Script.  Eccl.  Seculo  XIII.,  Col.  139. 

114  Crevier.  History  of  University  of  Paris,  Tom.  2,  page  113. 

"•Gallia  Christiana,  Tom.  2,  page  76. 


346  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Boniface.  As  a  reward  for  this  he  was  created  Arch- 
bishop of  Bourges.  A  man  of  austere  habits,  he  was  con- 
sidered a  saint,  being  always  styled  Blessed;  and  he  was 
temperate  in  action  in  those  stormy  times.  For  we  find 
that  besides  the  aforesaid  proofs  of  his  love  for  Philip,  he 
had  manifested  his  benevolence  in  two  synods  by  con- 
ceding to  him  the  ecclesiastical  tithes.116  On  the  other 
hand,  the  terrible  quarrel  having  broken  out,  he  wrote  on 
the  royal  and  papal  power,  deciding  in  favor  of  Boniface 
against  Philip.  This  opinion  was  not  to  be  despised  inas- 
much as  he  was  a  man  dear  to  the  two  rivals,  and  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  things  he  saw.  We  have  said  the 
things  he  saw,  but  he  never  felt  them.  For  by  reason  of 
tithes  and  taxes  his  income  was  so  reduced,  that  from 
being  a  very  rich  prelate,  he  was  obliged  for  the  necessi- 
ties of  life  to  serve  as  a  simple  canon  in  the  Order,  in 
order  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  daily  distributions.  The 
continuator  of  Nangis  asserts  that  it  was  the  Pope  who 
had  so  cruelly  appropriated  the  patrimony  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Bourges.117  Unfriendly  to  the  Popes  the  writers 
of  the  "  Gallia  Christiana  "  seem  to  accept  this  opinion.118 
He  died  at  Avignon  in  1316,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  his  Augustinians  in  Paris.119  The  opinions  favorable 
to  the  doctrine  of  Boniface,  as  we  have  shown,  which 
caused  so  much  commotion  in  France,  were  not  a  scandal 
to  other  Catholic  churches  of  Christendom,  but  were  re- 
ceived as  sacred.  If  we  call  to  mind  the  provincial  coun- 
cils held  at  that  time,  we  find  scarcely  any  that  did  not 
establish  some  canon  affecting  the  ecclesiastical  immuni- 
ties in  the  same  manner  as  they  were  regarded  by  Boni- 
face. The  English  Church  was  a  splendid  example  of 
what  we  here  assert.  We  have  seen  with  what  reverence 
the  constitution  "  Clericis  "  was  welcomed ;  and  with  what 
great  solemnity  and  vigor,  the  illustrious  Robert,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  and  Primate  of  England,  set  about 
to  promulgate  it.  Now  whilst  the  parliaments  in  France 
were  acting  against  the  Pope,  Robert  was  ever  the  more 
fortifying  himself  against  Edward,  taking  refuge  behind 
the  Papal  authority,  the  only  bulwark  of  liberty  for  the 

"«  Gallia  Christiana,  Tom.  2,  col.  77. 

U7Spicil.  Archery,  Tom.  2,  page  620.  1MThe  same  place. 

119  See  note  at  end. 


HISTORY   OP. POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  347 

churches  against  the  assaults  of  laymen.  He  did  not 
repair  to  the  royal  court  to  defend  himself  against  an 
imaginary  Roman  supremacy.  Guided  by  the  same  pru- 
dence and  by  the  same  views,  his  predecessors,  and  par- 
ticularly the  noble  Stephen  Langton  had  obtained  from 
King  John  for  the  English  people  the  famous  Magna 
Charta,  the  foundation  of  their  common  rights.  So  that 
the  immunities  of  the  Church  were  ever  the  parent  of  those 
of  the  people.  Stephen  with  invincible  courage  had  fought 
for  the  liberty  of  the  clergy,  and  for  this  reason  he  also 
with  the  same  energy  directed  and  led  that  warlike  band 
of  Barons,  known  as  the  League  of  God  and  of  the  Holy 
Church.  He  triumphed  in  the  sanctuary,  and  he  tri- 
umphed on  the  field ;  and  from  the  trembling  hands  of  King 
John  the  Magna  Charta  fell  into  the  hands  of  Stephen. 
The  rights  of  the  English  people  were  established  by  this ; 
but  the  first  articles  of  the  agreement  were  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  inviolability  of  the  rights  of  the  Church. 
And  when  this  was  confirmed  in  full  parliament  in  the 
palace  at  Westminster  by  Henry  III,  the  king  who  swore 
to  keep  it  as  a  man,  a  Christian,  a  knight  and  a  king,  more 
than  by  the  arms  of  the  Barons  was  he  intimidated  and 
frightened  by  the  action  of  the  bishops  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Langton,  who  extinguished  and  threw  on  the 
ground  the  lighted  candles  they  bore  to  indicate  thereby 
the  maledictions  they  pronounced  against  the  violators 
of  the  Charta,  calling  down  upon  them  the  darkness  and 
confusion  of  Hell.  Thus  while  the  people  obtained  their 
rights  through  a  victory  of  the  Church,  the  latter  enclosed 
and  strengthened  herself  within  these  rights.  And  the 
ambitions  of  Rome  only  tended  to  compel  the  Prince  to  re- 
spect the  rights  of  his  subjects  and  the  Church.  That  edi- 
fice of  English  rights,  so  venerable  and  so  admirable,  rested 
in  the  hands  of  those  bishops,  who  anointed  by  the  God 
of  justice,  had  for  a  long  time  exerted  themselves  in  de- 
fending it.  We  do  not  find  that  the  shameful  imbecility 
of  the  French  clergy  in  subjecting  themselves  to  Philip 
produced  any  Charta  for  the  people,  unless  we  would 
acknowledge  as  a  worthy  fruit  of  such  a  plant,  that  lib- 
erty which  is  called  Gallican. 

Not  less  vigorous  was  the  temperament  of  the  Spanish 
clergy  in  those  times.    They  stood  firm  as  a  wall  against 


348         **        HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

secular  tyranny,  and  with  breasts  of  bronze  defended  their 
liberty.  We  read  that  precisely  in  the  year  1302  Egidius, 
Archbishop  of  Toledo,  convened  the  Synod  of  Pennafield, 
in  which  the  bishops  clamored  loudly  for  the  immunities 
of  the  churches,  and  this  was  nothing  else  but  an  echo  of 
the  voice  of  Boniface.  Canon  XIII  of  this  Synod  is  very 
clear  and  expressive.  It  established  and  commanded  that 
if  any  one  even  of  royal  birth  violated  the  immunities  of 
the  churches,  the  bishops  and  the  dioceses  in  which  it  hap- 
pened, were  to  notify  them  to  desist,  and  if  they  refused, 
their  lands  were  to  be  interdicted.  And  as  those  bishops 
wTere  in  earnest,  they  proceeded  against  persons  of  high 
degree  with  apostolic  firmness,  mentioning  by  name 
Henry,  son  of  the  illustrious  Ferdinand,  King  of  Castile 
and  Leon,  and  also  a  certain  Princess  Infanta  of  Portu- 
gal, commanding  them  to  restore  that  which  they  had 
wickedly  usurped  from  the  churches  of  Toledo,  Segovia, 
Lagunto,  and  Concha.120  In  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of 
France,  that  evil  which  more  than  any  other  to  be  de- 
plored, was  a  certain  cowardly  feeling  occasioned  by  the 
fear  of  the  royal  power,  that  is  to  say,  the  most  pitiful 
consequence  of  the  death  of  liberty  and  the  triumph  of 

320  Item  ea  quae  Divini  juris  saeculari  non  subjaceant  potestati  et  non- 
nulli  potentes,  nescimus  quo  ducti  spiritu,  vel  odii  fomite,  vel  cupiditatis 
radice.  Ecclesias  infringere,  et  earum  libertates,  et  privilegia  imminuere 
moliuntur,  eis  earum  libertates,  et  onera  gravia  imponendo,  proinde  nos, 
qui  ex  officii  nostri  debito,  tanquam  murum  pro  domo  Israel  opponere  nos 
debemtis,  hujusmodi  excessibus,  quantum  cum  Deo  possumus,  resistere 
oupientes;  statuimus,  et  ordinamus,  ut  si  Regina  fuerit,  quae  facere 
acceptaverit  (forte  attemptaverit  vel  prandia  indebita  exegerit,  vel  filii 
Regum ;  Episcopus,  in  cujus  Diocesi  atentare  vel  etiam  perpetrari  contig- 
erit  eis  penitus  denunciet,  ut  satisfaciant  de  commisso:  et  si  requisiti 
satisfacere  noluerint  infra  mensem,  juxta  modum,  et  qualitatem  culpae, 
vel  damni  dati,  cujua  aeitimatio  Diocesani  arbitrio  relinquatur,  prout 
viderit  expedire,  terra  eorum,  si  qua  in  sua  Dioecesi  habuerint.  Eccle- 

siastico    subjaceat    inter    dicto Verum    quia    quia    Domini 

Henrici  filli  illustristrissimi  domini  Ferdinandi  quondam  Regis  Castellae, 
et  Legionis,  qui  ab  Ecclesia  Tolestana  Passadicilam,  et  ab  Ecclesia  Sego- 
biensi  Riacamaldeas  indebite  detinet  occupatas,  nee  non  et  Episcopa  Se- 
guntino  quaedam  mobilis  postquam  fuit  de  co  provisum  Seguntinae  Ecclesiae 
usurpavit,  excessus  est  notorius;  statuimus,  et  ordinamus,  ut  nominatim 
requiratur,  quor  praedicta  loca  restituat — Seguntino  Episcopo  satisfaciat 
de  ablatis.  Idem  penitus  statuentes  de  Infantissa  Portugalliae  super 
restitutione  poenarum  de  Viana  Conchensi  Ecclesiae  facienda."  Aguir 
Cone.  Hisp. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

tyranny.  We  have  said  that  Boniface  wanted  to  hold 
the  Council  in  Rome,  and  he  did  hold  it.  Philip  feared 
this  more  than  censures.  He  knew  full  well  that  those 
prelates,  who  had  been  inclined  towards  him,  if  for  how- 
ever short  a  time  they  would  have  left  France,  and  breathed 
the  air  of  Rome,  their  courage  would  be  revived,  and  they 
would  acknowledge  their  unbecoming  weakness,  and  feel- 
ing ashamed  of  themselves,  would  give  a  final  blow  to  his 
projects.  Spondani  does  not  believe  that  Boniface  held 
the  Council ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  of  it,  as  the  anonymous 
author  of  the  life  of  Boniface  121  affirms  it,  and  mention 
of  this  Council  is  found  in  the  great  collection  of  Mansi,122 
and  it  was  held  on  the  30th  of  October.  It  seems  to  be 
true  that  not  so  many  Frenchmen  attended  as  this  anony- 
mous writer  would  have  us  believe.  He  says  that  the 
Council  was  held  in  the  presence  of  the  prelates  of  the 
French  kingdom,  and  of  all  the  French  Doctors  of  Divin- 
ity and  of  Law.  Philip  had  carefully  placed  safe  barriers 
on  all  the  roads  leading  to  Rome,  and  all  those  Doctors 
could  not,  nor  do  we  believe  would  they  care  to,  escape 
from  France  at  their  own  peril.  It  is  probable  that  when 
the  author  declared  that  the  Council  was  held  in  presence 
of  prelates,  he  referred  to  the  presence  of  the  French 
legates  in  the  consistory  who  listened  to  the  discourses  of 
the  Cardinal  of  Porto  and  of  the  Pope.  Great  was  the 
moderation  of  Boniface  in  this  Synod.  There  were  no 
censures,  and  not  even  was  Philip  named  in  the  famous 
constitution  "  Unam  Sanctam,"  which  was  the  work  of 
this  Council.  Moreover  this  same  anonymous  author  of 
the  life  of  this  Pope  had  wondered,  writing  figuratively, 
how  amidst  so  much  lightning  against  the  King,  there  did 
not  follow  showers; 123  and  measures  were  not  taken  even 
against  great  prelates  of  the  kingdom,  mistaken  through 
love  for  their  own  interest,  and  solicitors  only  for  them- 
selves for  the  time  being. 

The  constitution  which  begins  "  Unam  Sanctam,"  eman- 
ated from  this  Council.  In  this  Boniface  did  nothing 

121  Auctor  vitae  Bonif.     Raynaldus,  year  1362,  12. 

^Collec.     Concil.  Tom.  25,  page  97. 

123 "  Ibi  corruscationibus  multis  praeviis  contra  Regem,  nulla  pulvia 
apparuit  subsecuta ;  defeceruntque  sibi  Praelati  magni  in  regno,  quaerentes 
quae  sua  sunt,  et  sibil  ipsis  ad  tempus  tantummodo  consulentes." — 


350  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

more  than  repeat  that  which  he  had  heretofore  said  in 
his  Papal  documents  and  in  presence  of  the  French  leg- 
ates. But  since  in  that  violent  command  given  to  the 
Bishops,  in  which  Philip  forbids  them  to  repair  to  Rome, 
and  for  this  reason  to  communicate  with  the  Pontiff,  he 
openly  offended  his  ministry,  Boniface  more  openly  treats 
of  the  Papal  power,  and  its  complete  independence.  He 
says,  that  the  Church  is  one;  that  it  forms  one  mystical 
body;  that  it  can  have  but  one  head;  the  head  is  Christ, 
through  him  Peter,  and  his  successors,  namely  the  Popes, 
and  this  is  of  faith.  That  there  are  two  powers  in  the 
Church,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal,  figured  by  those 
two  swords,  which  the  Apostles  presented  to  Christ,  saying 
to  Him :  "  Behold,  here  are  two  swords,"  the  material  sword 
to  be  used  for  the  Church,  and  the  spiritual  sword  by  the 
Church;  the  second  in  the  hand  of  the  priest,  and  the 
first  in  the  hand  of  the  king,  but  according  to  the  order 
and  direction  of  the  Pope.  Hence  the  material  is  subject 
to  the  spiritual,  and  the  spiritual  power  teaches  and 
guides  the  temporal.  He  concludes  by  defining,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  believe  in  order  to  be  saved  that  every  crea- 
ture must  be  subject  to  the  Pontiff.124 

We  do  not  believe  that  ever  in  the  world  anything 
caused  such  controversy,  and  aroused  such  great  and 
lasting  commotion,  as  did  these  words  of  Boniface.  The 
courtiers  and  the  theologians  of  the  time  of  Philip  were 
aroused,  and  this  is  not  much  to  be  wondered  at.  But 
when  in  after  times  Natalis  Alexander,  Fleury  and  Bos- 
suet,  the  famous  bishop  of  Meaux,  and  so  many  others, 
so  unreasonably  have  raised  a  diabolical  disturbance  in 
the  time  of  the  most  Christian  Louis  XIV,  the  reader  can 
easily  perceive  that  under  the  garb  of  a  zeal  for  the  lib- 
erty of  particular  churches,  of  a  desire  to  restrain  Ponti- 
fical ambitions,  there  must  be  hidden  some  reason,  which 
evidently  did  not  depend  on  times  or  circumstances,  but 
existed  absolutely  in  the  minds  of  the  disturbers;  and 
they  themselves  either  did  not  know  the  final  consequences 
of  their  theories,  or  else  they  wished  to  conceal  them.  We 
will  state  briefly  what  this  reason  was.  It  was  their  re- 
pugnance to  the  absolute  monarchy  of  the  Church,  and  the 
foolish  idea  of  tempering  it  either  by  a  consistorial  aris- 

144  (See  document  J  at  end  of  work. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  35! 

tocracy,  or  worse,  by  royal  authority.  If  we  would  not 
wish  to  penetrate  the  labyrinth  of  opinions  concerning 
the  dual  power,  of  which  Boniface  speaks,  the  task  would 
be  wearisome  to  me  and  of  little  service  to  the  reader,  and 
not  worth  the  time  which  is  so  precious.  But  we  have 
come  at  length  to  the  time  of  proceeding  to  a  considera- 
tion of  the  causes  of  the  great  controversies,  and  of  leav- 
ing aside  with  the  greatest  respect  the  two  bodies  of  con- 
tending canonists.  Natalis  Alexander  especially  sum- 
moned around  him  a  host  of  writers,  who  were  of  his 
opinion,  and  with  the  supercilious  tone  of  a  pedant  de- 
manded their  opinion  of  the  dual  power,  which  he  believed 
was  fabricated  by  Boniface.  They  all  replied  that  it  is 
an  impertinence;  it  never  existed,  and  is  an  excessiveness 
of  sovereignty  on  the  part  of  Pope  Boniface;  and  so  he 
triumphs.  Even  the  partisans  of  the  Pope  or  rather  those 
who,  adopting  the  principles,  do  not  wish  to  resist  the 
consequences  engendered  thereby,  seem  to  us  to  have 
erred  in  their  manner  of  defence.  They  also  gather  cham- 
pions who  agree  with  them  and  they  triumph.  But  it  is 
still  undecided  which  of  these  two  parties  gained  the 
victory.  Many  still  continue  to  clamor,  terming  Boni- 
face a  rascal,  and  very  few  consider  him  honest  and  just. 
However  whilst  the  Gallicans,  like  Natalis  Alexander, 
are  consuming  time  in  enumerating  how  many  writers  of 
the  University  of  Paris  coincide  with  them,  and  whether 
Boniface  had  made  a  right  or  wrong  use  of  Scriptural 
passages,  we  shall  treat  the  reader  to  a  short  and  simple 
consideration  which  touches  the  very  heart  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  not  of  men  who  are  engaged  in  quarrelling  with 
one  another. 

In  this  constitution  Boniface  had  reminded  Philip  of 
the  doctrine  as  old  as  the  Catholic  Church,  namely  that 
the  Pope  is  superior  to  lay  Princes  by  reason  of  sin.  We 
have  explained  the  sense  and  truth  of  these  words.  Now 
in  the  Constitution  "  Unam  Kanctam  "  he  traces  this  doc- 
trine to  the  principle  from  which  it  is  derived,  by  defining 
that  there  are  two  quite  distinct  powers  on  earth,  the 
spiritual  and  the  temporal,  and  the  latter  is  arranged  and 
di rooted  by  the  former.  If  this  be  not  admitted,  Boniface 
decided,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  but  bow  the  head 
and  adopt  the  Manichaean  phantasy  of  two  principles. 


352  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

No  one  is  ignorant  that  there  is  one  God,  one  power,  one 
order.  Power  and  order  among  men  are  derived  from 
God,  to  be  multiplied  accidentally,  but  remaining  one  and 
absolute  by  nature.  If  there  is  a  great  number  of  beings 
outside  of  God,  these  should  be  reunited  by  the  bond  of 
subordination,  as  is  evident  from  the  natural  order  of 
things,  which  ascend  to  God  by  a  succession  of  depend- 
ence and  empire.  A  similar  law  presides  over  the  moral 
order.  Hence  tracing  all  the  various  powers  to  their  own 
peculiar  sources,  we  shall  find  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
powers  supreme  moderators  of  Catholic  Christian  society. 
The  question  arises  to  which  belongs  the  office  of  ruling 
over  the  other,  both  not  being  able  to  exist  independent. 
The  spiritual  power  is  adjusted  to  an  infallible  and  eternal 
legislation,  and  to  a  head  or  determined  master.  There- 
fore both  by  the  law  of  which  it  is  the  custodian,  and 
through  the  person  who  is  invested  with  it,  this  power 
comes  immediately  from  God;  there  being  nothing  human 
in  it  save  the  infirmity  of  him  who  exercises  it,  as  a  Pope 
is  not  transformed  into  a  God.  The  temporal  power  then 
is  established  with  a  view  to  a  temporary  and  fallible 
legislation,  owing  to  a  diversity  of  times  and  of  men,  and 
with  a  view  to  an  undetermined  master.  Therefore  the 
temporal  comes  immediately  from  God,  mediately  as  to 
its  forms.  So  if  it  is  necessary  to  a  civil  Catholic  society 
that  there  should  be  a  governing  power,  it  is  not  however 
necessary  that  by  the  immediate  will  of  God  this  power 
should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  aristocracy  or  of  a 
monarch.  This  determination  comes  from  men,  and  hence 
is  changeable  like  the  civil  laws,  fallible  and  not  per- 
petual. On  the  contrary  the  spiritual  power  immediately 
both  in  its  substance  and  in  its  form  comes  from  God;  as 
it  is  not  the  office  of  men  to  determine  into  whose  hands 
it  should  be  placed.  The  Bishop  of  Rome^  as  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  is  chosen  by  God  to  exercise  it.  He  shall  be 
a  perpetual,  unchangeable  minister  of  it,  just  as  the  law, 
of  which  he  has  been  designated  custodian  and  master, 
is  perpetual,  unchangeable  and  infallible.  Hence  the 
Pope  alone  is  rightly  called  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  to 
no  republican  form  of  government  or  monarchy  has  this 
appellation  been  given.  Moreover  the  Pope  applies  an 
infallible  law  to  faith  and  morals,  and  he  is  the  head 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  353 

of  an  infallible  society,  which  is  the  governing  Church. 
There  are  two  sources  of  infallibility,  faith  and  morals, 
that  raise  the  Vicar  of  Christ  so  high,  as  to  make  him  un- 
accountable to  any  one  on  earth  in  those  judgments  with 
a  view  to  which  his  power  has  been  established. 

Therefore  just  as  the  infallibility  of  the  Church  in  the 
Pope  elevates  him  so  high  that  he  has  no  superior,  so  the 
fallibility  of  a  Prince  calls  for  some  other  power  superior 
to  him,  except  in  case  of  his  immediate  deputation  re- 
ceived from  God.  If  therefore  no  things  outside  of  God 
are  perfect  equality  with  one  another,  and  if  besides,  the 
Papal  and  the  civil  powers  are  both  derived  from  God, 
the  reason  by  which  one  of  the  two  is  more  nobly  derived, 
will  furnish  at  once  a  reason  for  its  preeminence.  De- 
stroy this  preeminence  and  the  civil  power  will  clash  with 
the  laws  of  nature,  which  as  they  will  not  have  independ- 
ence even  in  power,  will  be  destructive  of  the  society  over 
wrhich  they  are  exercised,  and  will  be  rebellious  against 
God  who  confided  his  power  to  the  head  of  His  Church. 
Therefore  if  the  court  of  appeal  be  closed  to  the  society 
ruled  by  the  fallibility  of  a  Prince,  and  to  the  faults  of  the 
ruling  power,  the  governed  will  reply  with  brutal  force, 
which  can  never  be  sanctioned  by  right.  Then  when  the 
combatants  have  become  wearied  of  the  strife  there  will 
arise  the  necessity  of  absolute  justice,  which  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  bosom  of  a  convulsed  society,  must  be  im- 
plored from  the  spiritual  power,  or  else  the  combatants 
will  become  delirious  over  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  or 
the  rights  of  man.  These  are  phantasies  which  give  birth 
to  princes  intolerant  of  restraint,  and  nurtured  by  the 
people  under  the  pressure  of  a  moral  and  terrible  neces- 
sity. It  is  true  that  the  civil  power  is  not  derived  from 
the  spiritual,  but  equally  strong  and  equally  free  both 
come  from  God  to  reign,  the  latter  over  the  Church,  and 
the  former  over  the  people.  So  that  the  spiritual  power 
freely  unfolds  itself,  and  is  not  restrained  by  a  superior; 
and  the  temporal  is  directed  and  regulated  by  the  former, 
as  there  can  be  no  subjection  without  the  direction  of  a 
superior.  The  power  for  example  of  a  father  over  his 
children  is  not  destroyed  in  a  republic  by  the  subjection 
of  the  parents  to  the  state  government.  This  direction, 
or  order  is  manifested  every  time  the  civil  government  is 


354  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

in  disorder,  that  is  sins.  Its  fault  is  always  a  violation 
of  commutative  justice,  which  imposes  on  the  rulers  and 
the  people,  an  equal  command  of  mutual  preservation. 
One  of  the  contracting  parties,  which  fails  in  its  duty, 
releases  with  good  reason  the  other  from  its  obligation. 
But  inasmuch  as  that  right  can  resolve  itself  into  a  fact, 
there  is  always  need  of  a  judge,  to  be  chosen  either  by  the 
consent  of  the  parties,  or  already  in  the  selection  of  a 
Religion  infallible  in  her  laws,  and  in  those  who  expound 
them.  And  here  again  we  behold,  as  a  consequence  of 
the  two  powers,  the  one  subordinate  to  the  other,  the  pre- 
eminence of  the  Pope  over  other  civil  rulers  by  reason  of 
sin.  And  therefore  there  is  not  a  creature,  as  Boniface 
defined,  which  is  not  subject  to  the  Pontiff.  A  king  or  a 
president  of  a  republic,  who  desires  to  be  a  Catholic  Chris- 
tian, can  never  withdraw  from  this  subjection,  unless  he 
wishes  to  subject  himself  to  God  in  a  manner  different 
from  that  established  by  Christ,  or  prefers  rather  to  try 
the  benefits  of  tyranny  or  anarchy,  which  wrestling  in  the 
bosom  of  society  increase  the  miseries  of  this  short  jour- 
ney of  life.  These  theories  were  not  the  production  of 
the  human  brain,  but  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  soon  as 
men  embraced  it  not  only  as  individuals,  but  also  as  mem- 
bers of  a  civil  society.  Therefore  those  who  make  Boni- 
face the  author  of  them  either  do  not  know,  or  do  not  care 
to  know  that  they  were  always  defined  by  Popes  his  pre- 
decessors, confirmed  by  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  and  de- 
fended by  Doctors,  even  Frenchmen.  In  fact  that  which 
we  have  called  a  "  directive  "  or  "  administrative  "  power 
of  the  Pope  over  Princes,  was  a  long  time  previous  con- 
sidered as  such  and  called  such  by  Gerson,  a  French- 
man.125 The  application  of  the  Scriptural  passages,  espe- 
cially the  one  of  the  two  swords  as  a  symbol  of  the  two 
powers,  the  one  subordinate  to  the  other,  was  not  alto- 
gether the  work  of  Boniface.  It  was  first  discovered  by 
a  holy  French  Doctor,  St.  Bernard.126  The  application 
to  the  Pope  of  the  words  spoken  by  God  to  Jeremias,  was 
a  thing  much  older  than  the  time  of  Boniface  both  in  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Churches.127  Boniface  has  been  accused 

125  De  Potestate  Ecclesiae.     Consid.   12.  M  Book  4.     De  Consid.  ad 

Eugenium  Papam.  127  See  Bianchi.     On  the  Indirect  Power  of   the 

Church.     Book  VI,  7,  Tom.  2, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  355 

of  a  violent  distortion  of  Scriptural  passages,  and  of  the 
fabrication  of  an  unlimited  ecclesiastical  right,  because 
he  had  to  resist  immediately  the  transgressors  of  the  same. 
But  in  this  precisely  we  discover  his  greatness  of  soul. 
For  when  a  man  comes  to  be  identified  with  a  theory,  in 
such  a  manner  that  war  against  the  theory  means  war 
against  him  who  defends  it,  it  must  be  that  the  soul  of 
this  man  is  capable  of  comprehending  it,  and  able  to  de- 
fend it  alone.  Hence  hatreds  have  survived  against  Boni- 
face, because  the  truth  he  defended  has  survived.  And 
whenever  the  hand  of  the  powerful  attacks  the  Church  in 
her  rights,  it  digs  up  from  the  tomb  the  ashes  of  that  mag- 
nanimous soul  in  order  to  execrate  them.  Four  centuries 
have  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Boniface,  and  yet  Bossuet 
rushed  against  him  with  the  same  fury  as  was  displayed 
against  him  in  the  assembly  of  Senlis. 

After  the  definition  of  right  Boniface  proceeded  to  ac- 
tion. He  published  sentence  of  excommunication  on  the 
same  day  November  18th  against  all,  and  even  crowned 
heads,  who  would  dare  to  molest,  hinder,  or  imprison 
those  going  to  the  Roman  See  or  returning.  In  this  Bull 
he  could  have  struck  Philip  heavily,  by  naming  him,  since 
he  was  guilty  of  this  kind  of  violence,  but  he  held  to  gen- 
eralities. For  in  all  those  barefaced  proceedings  of  Philip 
against  him,  Boniface  never  dismissed  from  his  mind  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  lead  him  by  reason  to  a  better  course. 
He  desired  peace.  But  he  could  not  endure  those  public 
violations  of  the  liberty  of  the  Church,  of  which  he  was 
the  supreme  guardian  and  defender.  He  negotiated  with 
Charles  of  Valois,  that  he  might  use  his  good  influence 
with  his  brother,  King  Philip,  to  reconcile  him  with  Rome. 
Charles  promised,  but  as  we  have  seen  in  Florence,  this 
peacemaker  was  fit  for  everything  else,  except  to  make 
peace.128 

In  this  Roman  Synod  where  the  Bull  "  Unam  Sanctam  " 
was  published,  John  Lemoine,  Cardinal  of  the  title  of  Sts. 
Marcellinus  and  Peter,  a  Frenchman,  was  sent  to  France 
as  legate  in  order  not  to  give  umbrage  to  Philip.  He  was 
a  man  of  grave  character,  endowed  with  many  virtues, 
of  tried  prudence  and  also  a  most  courageous  man,  for 
considering  the  fate  of  the  other  legates  in  their  dealings 

1MRaynaldus,  1302,  n.  15. 


356  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

with  the  brutal  Prince,  there  was  much  reason  to  fear. 
The  Pope  had  granted  him  the  amplest  faculty  to  release 
Philip  from  censures,  if  he  requested  such. 

But  before  we  come  to  speak  of  the  outcome  of  that 
legation,  we  must  narrate  the  doings  of  Boniface  else- 
where. For  the  affairs  of  France,  although  most  grave, 
were  not  so  important  as  to  take  his  attention  from  other 
churches  and  other  states  of  the  universal  Church. 

The  kingdom  of  Hungary  at  this  time  was  in  great  dis- 
order owing  to  factional  fights  over  the  uncertainty  of  its 
ruler.  Ladislaus  III,  surnamed  Cumano,  King  of  Hun- 
gary dying  childless  in  1290,  left  only  his  wife  Mary, 
daughter  of  Charles  I  of  Anjou,  King  of  Naples.  The 
majority  of  the  Hungarian  nobles  greeted  as  their  king 
Andrew,  the  third  of  that  name,  called  the  Venetian,  be- 
cause born  in  Venice  of  Thomassina  Morosini,  and  he  was 
crowned  in  August,  1290.  But  Mary,  the  sister  of  the  dead 
Ladislaus,  the  wife  of  Charles  II,  the  Lame  of  Naples,  be- 
lieved that  her  son  Charles  Martel  deserved  by  right  of 
succession  the  crown,  and  Popes  Nicholas  IV  and  Celes- 
tine  V,  ever  ready  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  house 
of  Anjou,  twice  in  Naples  had  crowned  Charles  Martel, 
King  of  Hungary.  In  the  meantime  Andrew  reigned  in 
fact.  In  1295  Charles  Martel  died  prematurely  leaving 
his  rights  to  the  crown  to  his  son  Charles  Robert,  short- 
ened into  Carobert,  who,  supported  in  his  claims  by  the 
Papal  Court,  disputed  with  Andrew  the  throne  of  Hun- 
gary. The  question  was,  which  was  of  greater  weight  in 
the  establishment  of  legitimacy,  the  selection  by  the  nobles 
or  the  succession  of  heredity?  Boniface,  endowed  as  he 
was  with  a  keen  knowledge  of  human  affairs,  saw  clearly 
that  since  this  people  was  only  half-civilized,  and  menaced 
round  about  by  a  most  fierce  tribe,  as  the  Cuman  Tartars 
were,  to  leave  to  them  the  selection  of  a  king,  would  have 
given  a  lasting  occasion  for  war  within,  and  invasions 
from  without.  As  Pope  he  saw  a  way  closed  to  extend  the 
power  of  the  house  of  the  Angevines  of  Naples,  the  recog- 
nized defenders  of  Papal  rights.  Moreover  the  kings  of 
Hungary  were  never  elective,  but  the  nearest  relative  of 
the  dead  king  inherited  the  crown.  Therefore  his  ward 
Carobert  had  the  best  right  to  succeed  Ladislaus;  nor 
could  a  party  of  nobles  by  making  a  selection  destroy  a 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  357 

law  prescribed  by  a  long  period  of  years.  Boniface  there- 
fore took  the  part  of  Carobert  according  to  justice.  He 
set  to  work  with  great  ardor,  negotiating  not  only  in  the 
interests  of  one  man,  but  of  the  whole  kingdom,  and  of  the 
Hungarian  Church.  The  former  was  in  great  disorder, 
the  result  of  factional  fights,  the  latter  was  disturbed  in 
its  liberty  and  oppressed. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1301,  Boniface  had  appointed  Nicho- 
las, Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia  and  Velletri  as  his  Legate  to 
settle  the  affairs  in  Hungary  by  establishing  Carobert  on 
the  throne.  He  had  given  him  the  fullest  power  to  nego- 
tiate also  as  his  Legate  in  Poland,  in  Croatia,  in  Dalmatia, 
and  in  other  regions.  It  is  well  to  remark  here  how  he 
expressed  to  Nicholas  the  nature  and  the  duties  of  his 
mission :  "  We  send  you  as  an  Angel  of  peace : 129  enjoin- 
"  ing  you  that,  in  that  kingdom  and  in  the  aforesaid  prov- 
"  inces,  you  consult  with  the  clergy  and  laity,  whatever 
"  may  be  their  rank  and  dignity,  on  all  things  which  con- 
"  cern  the  divine  worship,  the  honor  of  the  Apostolic  See, 
"  the  observance  of  the  ecclesiastical  canons,  the  restora- 
"  tion  of  the  liberty  of  the  Church,  the  prosperity  of  the 
"  kingdom  and  those  provinces,  the  decorum  of  divine 
"  worship,  the  return  of  peace,  spiritual  health  and  bodily 
"  tranquillity."  The  Legate  Drought  with  him  from  the 
Pope  very  important  letters  to  all  the  Prelates  of  Hun- 
gary exhorting  them  to  receive  the  Legate  as  himself  in 
person,  to  give  him  whatever  he  needed  and  a  kind  recep- 
tion. But  in  July  of  the  same  year,  1301,  Andrew  III  had 
died  and  the  nobles  of  Hungary  having  heard  of  the  near 
arrival  of  the  Papal  Legate,  feared  that  they  might  suffer 
the  loss  of  their  liberty,  if  they  allowed  Boniface  to  choose 
a  king  for  them.  So  they  appealed  at  once  to  Wences- 
laus,  King  of  Bohemia,  son  of  Anna,  a  daughter  of  Belo 
IV,  King  of  Hungary,  who  died  in  1271,  beseeching  him  to 
accept  the  crown  of  Hungary.  The  Bohemian  king  far 
advanced  in  years  did  not  wish  to  leave  his  old  kingdom, 
and  relinquished  to  his  son  Wenceslaus  the  throne  to 
which  he  was  invited  by  the  Hungarians.  Wenceslaus 
was  crowned  king  by  John,  Archbishop  of  Colocza  in 
Alba-Reale,  as  the  see  of  Strigonia  was  vacant,  upon  the 
Archbishop  of  which  devolved  by  right  that  ceremony. 

"  Tanquam  pacis  Angelum  destinamus."     Raynaldus,  1301,  n.  4. 


1»  .. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

As  soon  as  Boniface  heard  of  this  sudden  coronation, 
he  overtook  the  Legate  with  letters,  as  he  was  about  enter- 
ing the  kingdom.  The  affairs  of  France  had  embittered 
his  mind,  and  rendered  him  more  jealous  of  the  Papal 
power;  for  which  reason  from  the  time  of  the  open  rup- 
ture with  Philip  he  adopted  in  letters  more  solemn  lan- 
guage to  magnify  the  supreme  power  of  the  Church,  as 
we  see  in  this  letter  which  he  dispatched  to  the  Legate, 
Cardinal  of  Ostia.  It  began :  "  The  Roman  Pontiff  estab- 
"  lished  by  God  over  kings  and  kingdoms  is  the  supreme 
"  high-priest  in  the  Church  militant ;  and  prince  over  all 
"  men,  being  seated  on  the  throne  of  judgment,  he  judges 
11  quietly,  and  with  one  glance  he  causes  all  manner  of 
"  evils  to  disappear."  He  then  reminds  him  of  the  care 
with  which  the  Apostolic  See  had  protected  Hungary  from 
the  fury  of  barbarians,  and  says  that  not  departing  from 
the  custom  of  his  predecessors,  he  designated  him  Legate 
to  that  kingdom  so  violently  disturbed.  He  condemns 
the  rashness  of  the  Archbishop  of  Colocza,  for  having 
dared  to  place  the  crown  of  Hungary  upon  the  head  of 
Wenceslaus,  since  Carobert  had  been  already  crowned, 
and  he  summons  him  to  appear  before  him  within  the 
period  of  four  months,  and  give  a  reason  for  his  conduct. 

To  Wenceslaus  the  elder,  the  aged  King  of  Bohemia,  he 
complained  by  letter,  and  demanded  that  he  annul  at  once 
the  things  done  with  such  little  prudence.  He  asked  by 
what  right  of  succession  or  by  what  title  his  son  had  ap- 
propriated the  kingdom  of  Hungary;  and  what  reason 
was  there  for  the  temerity  of  the  Archbishop  of  Colocza 
to  meddle  in  an  affair  in  which  he  had  no  right.  That  he 
should  not  have  despised  the  Apostolic  See,  the  mother 
and  teacher  of  all,  and  that  in  cases  of  doubt,  and  affairs 
of  great  moment  he  should  have  had  recourse  to  her.  The 
kingdom  of  Hungary  was  brought  almost  to  nothing  by 
the  fury  of  the  Cumans,  the  Tartars,  the  Pagans  and  the 
schismatics,  and  this  rash  act  will  serve  only  to  open  a 
way  to  further  lacerate  her.  That  if  his  son  had  any  rights 
in  Hungary,  he  should  expose  them  before  the  Holy  See, 
and  if  proven,  they  will  be  preserved  whole  and  intact.130 

In  the  meantime  having  arrived  in  Hungary,  the  Car- 
dinal Legate  assembled  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom.  He 

^Raynaldus,  year  1301,  no.  10. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  359 

tried  every  means  to  reconcile  them,  and  have  them  recog- 
nize Carobert  as  king,  but  all  in  vain.  Then  he  left  that 
country,  and  repaired  to  Vienna,  whence  he  dispatched  a 
messenger  to  the  Pope  to  acquaint  him  of  the  unsuccess- 
ful result  of  his  mission.  On  the  other  hand  Wenceslaus, 
King  of  Bohemia,  replied  to  the  Papal  letter,  and  declared 
that  his  son  had  been  legitimately  elected  King  of  Hun- 
gary. Boniface  did  not  yield;  he  insisted  and  undertook 
to  present  the  rights  of  Maria,  mother  of  Carobert,  to  the 
Hungarian  throne.  He  invited  the  King  of  Bohemia, 
Maria  and  her  son  Carobert  to  appear  before  him  to  dis- 
cuss the  affair.  And  since  in  his  letter  Wenceslaus  had 
taken  also  the  title  of  King  of  Poland,  in  the  strongest 
terms  he  exhorted  him  to  abandon  it,  telling  him  that 
that  was  a  crime  of  state,  as  Poland  was  a  fief  of  the 
Roman  See.  He  wrote  to  this  effect  in  June  1302 ;  and  the 
Cardinal  Legate  according  to  his  command  cited  the  pre- 
tenders to  the  throne  of  Hungary.131 

Maria  and  Carobert  dispatched  their  procurators  to  the 
Papal  Court,  Wenceslaus  deputed  three  not  as  exponents 
but  as  defenders,  against  any  decision  of  the  rights  of 
their  lord.  Boniface  decided  with  the  advice  of  the  Cardi- 
nals, that  the  throne  of  Hungary  was  hereditary  and  not 
elective,  and  to  Carobert  the  crown  belonged.  He  pub- 
lished this  decision  in  a  Bull,  beginning  "  Spectator 
Omnium  "  given  at  Anagni  on  May  30th,  1302,  and  or- 
dered the  Archbishop  of  Colocza  and  the  Bishop  of  Zagra- 
biense  to  announce  it  to  the  Bohemian  elected  king.132 
This  decision  was  followed  by  an  encyclical  to  all  the  Hun- 
garians, commanding  them  under  the  pain  of  censure  to 
yield  obedience  to  Carobert;  and  a  letter  to  this  young 
man  exhorting  him  to  the  practise  of  virtue,  written  also 
at  Anagni  on  June  3rd,  1302.  The  care  exercised  by  Boni- 
face over  Hungary  brought  the  desired  peace  to  that  king- 
dom. All  acknowledged  Carobert  as  their  king;  the  two 
Wenceslaus  of  Bohemia  renounced  their  claims,  and  Hun- 
gary was  quieted,  and  was  governed  very  well  by  that 
prince. 

The  firmness  of  this  Pontiff,  as  it  appears  from  the  nar- 
ration of  the  affairs  of  Hungary,  did  not  always  bring  dis- 
aster. As  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  his  ward  Carobert  he 

131  Raynaldus,  year  1302,  no.  20,  22.    13a  Raynaldus,  year  1303,  no.  17. 


360 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


showed  himself  a  most  tenacious  observer  of  justice,  so 
afterwards  in  the  affairs  of  Germany  he  showed  that  he 
knew  how  to  moderate  himself  with  prudence  in  affairs  of 
great  difficulty.  We  have  already  seen  how  strenuously 
he  opposed  Albert,  son  of  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg.  This 
prince  violated  his  oath  to  Adolph,  King  of  the  Romans, 
and  having  raised  a  rebellion  against  him,  slew  him  in 
the  battle  of  Spires.  Up  to  this  year,  1303,  Boniface  had 
been  inexorable  to  the  entreaties  of  Albert,  who  sought 
his  approval  wherewith  to  acquire  the  Imperial  crown. 
Moreover  as  we  have  seen  he  had  aroused  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal Electors  of  Germany  to  carry  on  war  against  the 
usurper,  which  they  did.  He  was  induced  to  this  rigor, 
both  because  justice  was  wronged  by  Albert  rebelling 
against  and  slaying  his  lord  Adolph;  and  because  of  the 
violation  of  the  rights  of  the  Papal  See,  as  it  is  the  right 
of  the  Pontiff  to  examine  the  person  selected  as  King  of 
the  Romans,  to  consecrate  him,  to  crown  him,  and  if  un- 
worthy of  the  office  to  reject  him.  The  first  reason,  as  it 
was  a  fact  that  violated,  but  did  not  make  sacred,  a  right, 
would  disappear,  as  soon  as  the  consent  of  the  Electors 
and  the  Pontiff  made  that  fact  legitimate. 

The  second,  although  it  was  a  violation  of  a  right,  also 
would  cease,  as  soon  as  reparation  for  the  same  was  made. 
And  both  ceased  when  Albert  submitted  to  the  judgment 
of  Boniface,  and  confessed  that  he  had  wickedly  acquired 
the  crown  of  King  of  the  Romans  and  had  ignored  the 
rights  of  the  Roman  See.  Moreover  it  must  be  further 
added,  that  an  unbending  spirit  would  have  prolonged  still 
more  the  damage  of  the  intestine  wars  and  quarrels  in 
Germany,  and  would  have  deprived  the  Pope  of  a  support 
in  his  stormy  controversies  with  Philip  the  Fair.  There- 
fore Albert  sent  ambassadors  to  the  Pope  to  express  how 
willing  he  was  to  do  his  pleasure,  seeking  not  judgment 
but  mercy.133  They  promised  in  his  name  fidelity  and 

183  Raynaldus,  year  1303,  no.  4 "tu  devoti  et  prudentis 

more  filii,  de  solita  patris  benignitate  confidens,  super  iis  non  judicium, 
sed  misericordiam  humiliter  implorasti.  Praestitisti  quoque  nobis  et 
eidem  sedi  fidelitatis  et  obedientiae  juramentum  et  nonnulla  alia  etiam 
promisisti,  et  juramento  firmasti,  quae  tarn  a  praedicto  patre  tuo,  quam 
a  praedecessoribus  elgus  Romanorum  Regibus  jurata,  promissa  facta, 
recognita  et  concessa  fuerunt  sicut  haec  et  alia  in  duabus  patentibus  lit- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  361 

obedience  to  the  Apostolic  See;  and  they  promised  also 
under  oath  to  stand  by  what  his  predecessors,  the  Kings 
of  the  Komans,  had  conceded  to  the  Popes.  From  this  it 
is  evident,  that  it  was  not  through  fear  of  Philip  that 
Boniface  had  recognized  as  just  the  usurpation  of  Albert, 
and  ratified  it  after  having  condemned  it.  The  change  of 
sentiments  in  this  prince  who  craved  pardon  for  his  in- 
justice, and  promised  obedience  to  the  Holy  See,  induced 
the  Pope  to  change  his  dispositions.  The  letters  of  Albert 
to  Boniface,  found  in  the  annals  of  Raynaldus,  afford 
pleasant  reading.  In  these  not  only  does  he  mention  his 
obligation  to  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  but  he  discussed  at 
length  with  a  solemn  profession  (profiteer)  how  the  Im- 
perial crown  had  been  transferred  by  the  Apostolic  See 
from  Greece  to  Germany  in  the  person  of  Charlemagne. 
Hence  the  chief  duty  of  the  emperors  was  to  defend  the 
Church ;  to  swear  never  to  take  sides  against  her,  but  ever 
to  guard  her;  and  strenuously  to  uphold  her  liberty  and 
her  rights.  This  did  Albert  of  Nuremburg  write  on  Au- 
gust 17th,  1303.134  And  Boniface  in  reply  to  that  which 
the  ambassadors  had  reported,  solemnly  confirmed  his 
election  as  King  of  the  Romans,135  in  a  document  which 
begins:  " Patris  aeterni  filius,''  and  which  he  concludes 
with  a  beautiful  exhortation  to  be  grateful  to  the  Church : 
"  We  advise  and  beseech  you  by  the  Son  of  God  the  Father, 
"  to  fix  the  eyes  of  your  body  and  mind  respectfully  on 
"  God  and  on  the  Church,  if  you  desire  to  rule  nobly ; 
"  meditate  piously  in  your  soul  on  the  kindness  of  us  and 
"  of  that  holy  Mother,  who,  you  should  not  forget,  had 
"  anticipated  you ;  engrave  it  in  the  inmost  recesses  of 
"your  heart,  and  there  let  it  remain  as  a  perpetual  re- 
"  minder  of  favors  received." 

teris  tuo  sigillo  signatis,  quae  in  ipsius  Archivio  conservantur  Ecclesiae, 
plenius  continuentur."  (Letter  of  Boniface  to  Albert,  King  of  the 
Romans).  "*  Raynaldus,  year  1303,  no.  9. 

**  Raynaldus,  year  1303,  no.  2.     See  document  at  end  of  book. 


BOOK  VI. 

SUMMARY. 

1303-1314. 

Philip  renews  the  war  with  the  Flemish. — The  defeat  of  the  French  at 
Courtrai. — Reparation  demanded  of  Philip  by  the  Legate,  Cardinal  Le- 
moine. — Philip's  reply. — Mission  of  Nicholas  Benefratte  to  Philip, 
who  imprisons  him. — Parliament  in  the  Louvre  Palace. — Charges 
against  Boniface  — The  wretched  picture  the  bishops  present  us. — A 
consistory  in  Rome;  and  punishments  proclaimed  against  Philip  and 
France. — Of  appeals  to  the  Council. — Certain  ruffians  cross  the  Alps  to 
seize  the  Pope. — Their  number  is  increased  by  the  soldiers  of  Charles 
of  Valois,  and  Sciarra  Colonna  is  at  their  head. — They  lay  siege  to 
Anagni,  and  the  inhabitants  rebel  against  the  Pope. — They  enter  the 
town  and  invade  the  Papal  palace. — How  Boniface  received  them,  de- 
serted by  every  one. — Low  insolence  of  Sciarra  Colonna  and  Nogaret. 
— The  people  of  Anagni  return  to  their  senses. — Magnanimity  of  Boni- 
face.— He  goes  to  Rome. — His  death. — Judgment  of  his  actions. — His 
body  is  found  after  three  centuries  almost  incorrupt. — Philip  the  Fair, 
after  the  death1  of  Boniface. — Benedict  XI. — His  indulgence  to  the 
French,  he  tries  to  bring  Philip  to  his  senses. — His  prophecy  concern- 
ing the  affair  of  Anagni. — He  wishes  to  punish  the  guilty. — He  dies  of 
poison. — The  Conclave,  and  how  it  happened  that  Bertrand  de  Got, 
Clement  V,  became  Pope. — Philip  the  Fair  interferes  with  him,  and 
the  Papal  See  is  transferred  to  France. — Clement  is  urged  by  Philip  to 
proceed  against  the  memory  of  Boniface. — The  lamentable  position  of 
Clement  in  the  clutches  of  Philip  at  Poitiers. — The  Templars. — Philip 
wants  to  plunder  them,  he  demands  their  death  from  Clement. — They 
are  burned  at  the  stake. — After  the  burning  of  the  Templars,  there 
was  a  demand  to  burn  the  bones  of  Boniface. — Proceedings  against 
Boniface  in  presence  of  the  Pope. — End  of  the  proceedings. — Heaven 
punishes  Philip;  his  last  days  and  his  death. — A  calamity  visited  on 
Anagni. — Conclusion. 

IT  seemed  that  Heaven  wanted  to  allure  the  blinded 
Philip  from  the  precipice  by  an  awful  disaster,  that  filled 
all  France  with  shame  and  mourning.  When  Edward  of 
England  and  Philip  the  Fair  had  agreed  to  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Pope,  as  a  private  man,  the  reason  of  their 

362 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  353 

dissensions,  the  English  King  had  included  in  the  treaty 
of  armistice,  which  followed  the  Papal  decision,  Guy  of 
Flanders,  his  ally.  But  Boniface  in  his  decision,  in  order 
not  to  give  offence  to  Philip,  made  no  mention  of  Guy  and 
his  Flemings.  Being  protected  by  Edward  they  were 
guaranteed  against  annoyance  by  Philip.  But  having  for 
some  unknown  reason  come  to  a  misunderstanding  with 
the  English  who  were  assisting  them  in  guarding  the  city 
of  Ghent,  it  happened  that  their  allies  withdrew  from 
Flanders,  and  thereby  they  were  left  exposed  to  the  anger 
of  Philip  who  longed  for  the  moment  to  fall  upon  them. 
In  the  beginning  of  1300  the  truce  between  England  and 
France  expired,  under  the  shadow  of  which  the  Flemings 
reposed;  when  suddenly  there  appears  in  the  field  the 
French  army  moving  against  them  under  the  leadership  of 
Charles  of  Valois.  In  two  battles  Robert  of  Bethune,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  was  defeated,  and  in 
a  short  time  all  Flanders  was  under  the  power  of  the 
French.  There  still  remained  well  fortified  the  city  of 
Ghent  and  Count  Guy  within,  who  had  the  courage  and 
resources  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  conquerors  by  a 
long  resistance.1 

This  resistance  irritated  Charles  of  Valois,  who  wished 
to  subdue  his  enemy  without  fatigue.  He  proposed  arti- 
cles of  capitulation  to  Guy,  and  that  he  should  trust  him- 
self to  the  generosity  of  the  King  of  France,  and  to  the 
justice  of  the  court  of  Paris,  of  which  he  was  the  chief 
member:  he  should  lay  down  his  arms,  and  should  come 
unarmed  with  all  his  family,  and  some  fifty  Flemish  no- 
bles and  deliver  himself  into  his  hands ; — besides  he  should 
present  to  Philip  in  writing  his  sincere  desire  of  being 
reconciled  to  him.  Charles  in  return  promised  that  he 
would  protect  him  at  the  court  of  Philip;  and  have  him 
restored  to  the  sovereignty  of  all  his  provinces,  the  dignity 
of  first  Count,  and  have  him  made  a  Peer  of  France;  and 
as  a  guarantee  of  his  promises  he  staked  his  own  honor 
and  loyalty.  Guy  then  surrendered:  and  the  port  of 
Ghent,  and  all  the  other  fortresses  opened  their  gates  to 
the  French.  But  Guy  and  his  sons  and  chief  barons  went 
to  France  to  experience  in  prisons  the  generosity  of 
Philip,  and  the  inviolate  good  faith  of  Charles.  This  is 

1  Chron.  Xangii. 


364  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

the  Charles  of  Valois  who  afterwards  went  to  Florence,  of 
whom  Dante  well  said,  "  that  he  fought  with  the  arms  of 
Judas" 

All  Europe  was  stupefied  at  this  infamous  treachery, 
and  the  suspicion  that  Philip  had  put  to  death  the  unfor- 
tunate daughter  of  Guy  whom  he  had  held  imprisoned 
for  a  long  time,  became  a  certainty.  Philip  went  to  view 
his  new  conquest,  and  appointed  as  governor  James  of 
Chatilon,  brother  of  the  Count  of  St.  Paul,  and  he  was 
a  very  cruel  governor  of  the  poor  Flemings:  he  was  the 
Verres  of  Flanders.  But  like  Sicily,  Flanders  also  had  its 
Vespers.  Kobert,  Count  of  Artois,  hastened  with  chosen 
troops  to  create  the  storm.  Guy  of  Flanders,  the  younger, 
and  William,  the  grand-nephew  of  Guy  the  elder,  led  the 
Flemish  force  and  encountered  the  French  at  Courtrai. 
Some  mysterious  hand  must  have  guided  them  to  the 
bank  of  a  river.  They  chose  their  position  skilfully  be- 
hind a  narrow  canal,  which  concealed  the  view  of  the 
water  from  the  opposing  forces.  The  attack  was  begun  by 
the  French  archers  and  foot  soldiers,  but  the  barons  and 
knights,  imagining  in  their  contempt  for  the  popular 
troops  that  the  victory  would  be  easily  gained,  and  afraid 
that  the  foot  soldiers  should  have  the  honor  of  it,  ordered 
them  to  fall  back  on  the  flanks,  and  make  way  for  the 
cavalry  to  charge.  Almost  immediately  the  whole  line  of 
the  French  cavalry  dashed  at  full  gallop,  and  swept  down 
upon  the  Flemings.  But  in  their  imprudent  haste  they 
had  not  made  themselves  acquainted  with  the  existence  of 
the  canal,  and  were  only  made  aware  of  it  by  falling  over 
into  its  deep  bed.  The  whole  mass  of  the  cavalry  was 
rushing  forward  with  such  impetuosity  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  stop,  and  as  one  line  rolled  over  the  other,  con- 
tinually pushed  forward  by  those  behind,  who  knew  noth- 
ing of  what  had  happened  in  front,  the  confusion  became 
fearful,  and  multitudes  were  crushed  or  suffocated  under 
the  weight  of  their  own  horses.  The  Flemings  at  this  mo- 
ment, separating  into  two  bodies,  crossed  the  canal  at 
opposite  points,  and  fell  upon  the  flanks  of  the  French, 
whom  they  found  incapable  of  defence.  The  Flemings 
attacked  all  indiscriminately,  sparing  no  one.  It  was  not 
a  battle,  but  a  carnage.  Among  the  slain  was  Kobert, 
Count  of  Artois,  who  was  pierced  with  more  than  thirty 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

wounds;  Peter  Flotte,  the  Chancellor,  whom  the  reader 
knows;  the  Duke  of  Brabant  and  his  son;  and  the  son  of 
the  Count  of  Hainault;  Raoul  de  Nesle,  the  constable  of 
France,  and  his  brother  Guy,  marshal  of  the  army;  the 
Count  of  Tancarville ;  James  of  St.  Paul,  governor  of  Flan- 
ders, the  cause  of  the  war;  together  with  two  hundred 
other  barons,  and  six  thousand  cavaliers  who  perished  in- 
gloriously  on  that  day.  "  This  defeat  humiliated  greatly 
"  the  honor,  the  rank,  and  the  fame  of  the  ancient  French 
"  nobility  and  prowess,  as  the  flower  of  the  world's  cavalry 
"  was  defeated  and  humbled  by  as  low  a  class  of  people  as 

"  were  in  the  world,  weavers  and  fullers and  as  a 

"  result  of  this  victory  their  pride  was  raised  to  such  high 
"  degree,  that  one  Fleming  foot-soldier  with  spear  in  hand 
"  would  have  met  two  French  cavaliers  on  horseback." 
Thus  writes  Villani.2  This  stroke  of  divine  vengeance 
should  have  brought  Philip  the  Fair  to  his  senses,  or  at 
least  have  made  him  suspect  that  his  attacks  upon  the 
Church  were  displeasing  to  God.  He  did  not  see  return- 
ing from  Courtrai,  his  cousin  and  close  adviser,  the  Count 
of  Artois;  nor  Peter  Flotte  his  chief  minister;  nor  the 
flower  of  the  French  cavalry ;  and  this  affair  taught  him  a 
salutary  but  a  bitter  lesson.  This  was  a  time  in  his  reign 
when  he  employed  cunning  more  than  tyranny.  Flanders 
was  victorious,  Edward  was  restless,  the  French  people 
were  irritated,  and  Rome  was  threatening,  yet  he  knew 
how  to  navigate  the  ship  of  state  on  these  troubled  waters. 
We  shall  not  speak  of  the  way  he  did  it,  as  that  would 
cause  us  to  digress,  but  we  shall  mention  only  that  mali- 
cious cunning  with  which  he  manifested  his  most  tender 
compassion  for  the  distress  of  the  people,  not  in  the  reduc- 
tion of  taxes,  nor  the  free  course  of  justice,  but  in  the 
hypocritical  cry  raised  against  the  Inquisitors  of  heresy.3 
We  would  not  declare  that  these  latter  walked  immaculate 
before  the  Lord,  but  we  will  say  undeniably  that  these 
same  Inquisitors  a  short  time  previous  had  been  piously 
exhorted  by  Philip  the  Fair  to  deal  severely  with  heretics, 
because  it  helped  to  make  him  appear  zealous  in  the  eyes 
of  Boniface.  Now  he  compassionates  his  dear  and  faithful 

2  John  Villani.,  L.  VIII,  c.  56. 

*Martene.     Collect,  amplis.  Tom.  V,  p.  HI  et  aeq. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

subjects  tortured  by  these  same  Inquisitors.  Philip 
wanted  to  estrange  the  people  from  the  clergy. 

Cardinal  John  Lemoine  had  been  received  in  audience 
on  December  24th.  He  was  sent  as  Legate  to  Philip  with 
the  power  of  releasing  him  from  censures,  published  not 
against  him  in  particular,  but  in  general  against  all  those 
who  had  hindered  the  French  prelates  from  going  to 
Rome.  But  before  the  Legate  moved  in  the  matter,  Boni- 
face in  Rome  negotiated  with  Charles  of  Valois  and  the 
ambassador  of  Philip,  to  whom  having  presented  twelve 
accusations  against  the  King,  obtained  a  promise  from 
them  that  to  each  of  the  charges  Philip  would  give  the  re- 
quired satisfaction.  The  Legate  set  out  for  France  bearing 
with  him  the  twelve  accusations  and  the  promise  of 
Charles  and  the  ambassador,  if  this  promise  at  the  end  of 
a  month's  time  was  not  fulfilled,  the  Pope  threatened  to 
resort  to  spiritual  and  temporal  chastisements. 

The  Legate  presented  himself  to  Philip,  and  explained 
under  twelve  specifications  the  requests  of  the  Pope,  which 
were  the  following:  1st.  The  King  should  recall  his  pro- 
hibition, direct  or  indirect,  against  the  French  Prelates 
and  Doctors  repairing  to  Rome  to  attend  the  Synod  con- 
vened by  the  Pope; — 2nd,  he  should  admit  that  the  Pon- 
tiff has  the  supreme  and  chief  power  to  confer  any  vacant 
ecclesiastical  benefice  within  or  without  the  Roman  Curia ; 
and  in  the  bestowal  of  the  same  a  layman  could  not  obtain 
the  right  without  the  tacit  or  expressed  consent  of  the 
Apostolic  See; — 3rd,  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  can  send  at 
will  Nuncios  and  Legates  to  Princes  in  any  empire  or 
kingdom,  independently  of  any  petition  or  consent; — 4th, 
in  spite  of  contrary  usage  and  customs  the  administration 
of  ecclesiastical  goods  should  only  be  in  the  hands  of 
clerics  and  not  laymen,  and  the  supreme  administration 
and  dispensation  of  them  rested  with  the  Apostolic  See, 
which  with  a  certain  necessary  consent  can  dispose  of 
them,  and  impose  a  hundredth  part,  tithes  or  any  other 
tax; — 5th,  that  the  King  and  other  princes  are  forbidden 
to  seize  ecclesiastical  goods  and  rights  except  those  con- 
ceded by  right  or  granted  by  the  Holy  See,  and  to  summon 
before  his  own  tribunal  ecclesiastical  persons  by  reason 
of  property  or  rights,  when  they  are  not  held  in  fief; — 6th, 
that  the  King  should  restore  to  the  Prelates,  and  especially 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

to  the  monasteries,  over  which  he  had  the  right  of  custody, 
the  use  of  the  spiritual  sword,  and  free  jurisdiction,  no 
matter  what  privileges  had  been  granted  to  the  King  and 
his  ministers ; — 7th,  that  the  King  should  send  to  the  Pope 
his  procurator  with  sufficient  power,  and  prepared  in  his 
name  to  do  the  will  of  the  Pontiff  by  apologizing  for  the 
most  grievous  insult  to  the  Apostolic  See,  when  he  allowed 
the  Papal  Bulls  to  be  burned;  and  he  should  know  that 
he  had  determined  to  recall  all  the  privileges  formerly 
granted  by  the  Apostolic  See  to  the  King,  to  his  sons,  to 
his  brothers,  and  to  his  ministers,  that  the  punishment  for 
such  wickedness  might  serve  as  an  example  for  posterity; 
— 8th,  that  the  King  should  not  abuse  the  rights  of  Re- 
galia, and  of  custody  over  vacant  sees;  but  the  usual  ex- 
penses being  taken,  the  remainder  of  the  revenues  should 
be  faithfully  reserved  for  future  prelates. — 9th,  that  he 
should  made  amends  for  injuries,  especially  his  adultera- 
tion of  the  public  money,  of  which  within  brief  intervals 
he  had  thrice  been  guilty  of ; — 10th,  that  he  should  remind 
the  King  of  other  abuses  committed  by  him  or  by  his 
ministers,  and  contained  in  sealed  letters  of  which  the 
legate  James  de  Normans  had  been  the  bearer, — llth, 
that  the  city  and  borough  of  Lyons  with  all  jurisdiction, 
and  pure  and  mixed  government  belonged  not  to  the  King, 
but  rather  the  Church  of  Lyons ;  and  he  commands  him  to 
repair  the  injuries  and  offences  given  to  the  Archbishop, 
the  clerics,  and  their  vassals;  12th,  and  finally  if  within 
the  space  of  time  agreed  to  by  Charles  his  brother  and  his 
ambassadors  he  did  not  begin  to  correct  the  above  men- 
tioned abuses,  and  satisfy  the  Apostolic  See,  he  the  Su- 
preme Pontiff,  would  proceed  to  spiritual  and  temporal 
chastisements.4  Now  any  one  can  see  from  these  articles 
how  rigorously  Boniface  entrenched  himself  in  the  right 
of  the  Church  recognized  by  the  public  civil  law  of  the 
times;  and  how  he  revoked  that  which  his  predecessors 
had  granted  as  a  privilege  to  the  French  kings  in  the 
matter  of  the  bestowal  of  ecclesiastical  benefices. 

Philip  met  these  charges  with  that  mantle  which  the 
artifices  of  lawyers  and  the  cunning  of  courtiers  have  ever 
ready  to  throw  over  a  Prince,  when  he  is  intent  on  plun- 

4Brov.  Ann.  Raynaldus,  year   1303,  n.   34. 


368         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  ,VIII. 

der.  He  replied,  as  Natalis  Alexander  says,  with  incred- 
ible modesty:  That  the  war  against  the  Flemings  in  diffi- 
cult and  troublesome  times  had  hindered  the  transport  of 
money,  arms,  and  horses  outside  of  his  kingdom;  and  in 
this  he  made  use  of  a  right  which  he  believed  he  held  in 
common  with  other  princes. 

It  should  not  displease  the  Pontiff,  in  case  he  truly 
loved  the  King  and  the  realm,  if  he  had  opposed  the  Prel- 
ates leaving  France,  because  they  should  be  near  him  to 
assist  him  by  word  and  deed  in  his  defence  of  both  Church 
and  State  in  such  troublesome  times ;  and  yet  he  had  never 
denied  permission  to  those  who  lawfully  and  honestly 
wished  to  go  to  the  Roman  Curia.  He  provided  that  those 
having  gone  to  Rome  contrary  to  his  wishes  should  have 
a  free  passage,  and  that  when  they  would  return  to  their 
sees,  their  benefices  should  be  restored  to  them  out  of 
reverence  for  the  Apostolic  See.  By  right  and  custom 
regarding  the  bestowal  of  benefices,  he  conferred  them  like 
his  predecessors  from  remote  times.  He  granted  a  free 
entry  to  Papal  Nuncios  and  Legates,  so  long  as  they  were 
not  suspected  by  the  King,  and  there  were  not  other  just 
reasons  for  preventing  them.  He  took  possession  of  the 
goods  of  the  Church  in  cases  only  where  they  were  granted 
either  by  custom  or  by  right;  he  summoned  clerics  to  his 
tribunals  only  in  those  cases  in  which  it  had  been  lawful 
to  his  predecessors.  He  had  never  prohibited  nor  would 
he  prohibit  the  exercise  of  the  spiritual  sword  by  the  prel- 
ates whenever  right  and  custom  justified  it.  It  was  true 
the  Papal  letters  were  burned,  but  not  in  contempt  of  the 
Holy  See ;  it  was  commonly  admitted  that,  not  relating  to 
spiritual  but  purely  material  things  in  the  court  of  the 
King,  this  Bull  was  without  value,  and  consequently  had 
been  thrown  into  the  flames  as  useless  so  that  none  might 
abuse  it.  He  made  no  innovation  regarding  the  Regalia ! 
he  made  use  of  them  without  abuse  like  St.  Louis  and  his 
other  predecessors.  Acting  within  his  rights,  for  the  needs 
and  urgent  defence  of  the  kingdom,  he  had  changed  the 
public  money,  but  he  made  reparation  forthwith  on  peti- 
tion of  his  subjects.  Concerning  the  grievances  set  forth 
in  the  letters  given  to  James  de  Normans,  he  was  most 
ready  to  indemnify  the  churches,  the  bishops,  the  barons 
and  the  people  for  all  the  damages  which  his  officers 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  369 

might  have  caused  them;  he  would  make  a  rigorous  in- 
quiry into  the  past,  and  to  prevent  others  in  the  future, 
he  had  published  most  salutary  ordinances.  If  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Lyons  had  suffered  in  any  way,  it  was  his  own 
fault,  because  he  had  refused  to  swear  fidelity  to  the  King ; 
still  he  was  about  to  negotiate  with  him  concerning  the 
disputed  rights,  in  order  that  everyone  may  know  that 
content  within  the  limits  of  his  own  power,  he  respects 
those  of  the  Church.  Finally  he  entreated  the  Roman 
Pontiff  not  to  injure  the  liberty,  the  privileges,  and  the 
royal  indults,  and  not  to  sever  those  kind  relations  which 
always  existed  between  the  French  kingdom  and  the 
Roman  See.  Moreover  if  his  replies  were  not  satisfactory 
to  his  Holiness,  and  if  there  still  lay  hidden  a  spark  of  dis- 
cord, he  would  be  willing  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany,  being  accepted  by  him 
as  arbiters,  owing  to  their  honesty  and  devotion  to  the 
Roman  See. 

A  prince  who  believed  that  without  a  scruple  he  could 
falsify  the  public  money,  and  doing  so  was  acting  within 
his  rights ;  and  that  he  could,  like  a  miscreant,  throw  into 
the  fire  without  a  shadow  of  sin,  the  Papal  letters,  under 
the  pretext  that  they  did  not  treat  of  spiritual  things,  cer- 
tainly could  not  understand  that  princes  had  no  right  over 
the  goods  of  churches,  or  in  the  collation  of  benefices ;  and 
finally  that  what  his  predecessors  had  done  by  virtue  of 
Papal  concessions  and  privileges,  could  be  denied  him  by 
the  Pope  by  the  withdrawal  of  these  privileges.  That 
Boniface  had  excellent  reasons  for  withdrawing  them, 
every  one  will  know  who  perceives,  up  to  this  time,  Philip 
pass  from  violence  to  the  boldest  impudence  and  to  a  hypo- 
crisy, sufficient  to  weary  the  patience  of  a  saint.  So  for 
good  reason,  when  Boniface  had  received  the  answers  of 
Philip,  and  after  having  them  well  examined  and  discussed 
in  his  presence  by  distinguished  prelates  and  doctors  of 
divinity  and  law,  he  wrote  to  the  Legate : 5  that  some  of 
the  answers  did  not  agree  with  the  truth;  others  were  so 
obscured  by  verbosity  as  to  be  worthless,  and  others  ex- 
pressed such  evasion  and  delay  that  they  held  the  mind 
uselessly  in  suspense.  But  that  in  order  to  manifest  the 

B  Letter  of  Rubeus,  Life  of  Boniface  VIII,  page  201. 


370  HISTORY    OF.    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

purity  of  his  intentions,  and  that  he  acted  openly,  and  not 
in  the  dark,  he  proposed  to  have  recourse  to  the  advice  of 
the  Dukes  of  Bretagne  and  Burgundy,  according  as  his 
own  honor  and  that  of  the  Apostolic  See  would  permit. 
He  wrote  these  things  from  the  Lateran  Palace  April  15th, 
and  ended  the  letter  by  threats  of  spiritual  and  temporal 
chastisements,  and  exhorted  the  Legate  to  acquaint  him 
by  person  and  not  by  letter  of  the  result  of  the  negotia- 
tions. 

This  letter  contained  threats  of  particular  censures,  but 
not  a  sentence  of  excommunication.  Now  why  does  Nata- 
lis  Alexander,  place  in  the  hand  of  Boniface  the  thunder- 
bolt of  excommunication,  and  have  him  hurl  it  against 
Philip  while  he  was  trying  to  effect  an  agreement?  He 
was  learned  in  history,  and  why  this  location  of  events, 
or  rather  dislocation  of  them,  unless  it  is  from  a  desire  to 
incriminate  the  Pope  by  accusing  him  of  having  used  un- 
justly and  inopportunely  his  authority  against  Philip? 
These  are  not  the  times  of  canonical  disputes,  nor  the 
times  to  sacrifice  historical  truth  for  the  friendship  of 
Caesar.  Let  us  proceed  more  orderly.  Boniface  did  not 
resort  to  extreme  measures  until  the  13th  of  April,  that  is 
two  months  after  he  had  received  the  royal  reply,  and 
forty-nine  days  after  he  had  written  a  letter  to  Charles, 
the  brother  of  Philip,  in  which  he  exhorted  him  to  prevail 
upon  Philip  to  moderate  that  reply.  With  the  letters  of 
the  Pontiff  under  one's  eyes,  it  is  easy,  from  the  date  of 
their  issue,  to  place  his  acts  in  an  orderly  series.  Could 
not  the  learned  disputant  Natalis  Alexander  have  done 
this,  or  was  he  unwilling  to  do  so? 

Moreover  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  above  men- 
tioned letter  to  the  Legate,  and  another  addressed  to  the 
Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany,6  where  there  was  still 
question  of  an  agreement,  were  carried  into  France  by 
Nicholas  Benefratte,  Archdeacon  of  Constance.  To  this 
letter  was  joined  a  solemn  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  the  King,  to  be  published  in  all  the  provinces  of 
the  kingdom.  This  envoy  was  also  charged  to  summon 
again  to  his  tribunal  all  those  prelates  and  doctors,  who 
had  refused  to  come  to  Rome  at  the  time  of  the  first  con- 

*  History  of  Diff.,  page  95, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  371 

vocation;  and  to  pronounce  a  special  sentence  of  deposi- 
tion and  deprivation  of  every  dignity  against  any  bishops 
who  would  not  appear  in  his  presence  at  a  stated  time.7 
But  the  excommunication  and  the  other  punishments  were 
to  be  resorted  to  only  when  all  means  of  agreement  and 
submission  failed.  So  that  Benefratte  carried  two  kinds 
of  documents,  one  gentle  in  tone  in  hope  of  peace,  the 
other  severe  in  despair  of  a  remedy.  We  shall  tell  later  on 
how  these  acts  at  the  same  time  were  given  publicity. 

The  time  was  finally  come  when  the  tightened  knot  was 
either  to  be  loosened  by  reason,  or  broken  by  force.  Nicho- 
las Benefratte  entered  France,  and  as  soon  as  he  arrived 
at  Troyes  he  was  set  upon  by  the  satellites  of  the  King, 
who  probably  were  placed  there  for  that  purpose.  They 
robbed  him  of  the  Papal  letters,  and  then  violently  cast 
him  into  prison.8  The  Legate  Lemoine  would  have  liked 
to  protest  strongly  against  this  violence,  but  it  was  better 
to  remain  silent,  because  Philip  was  more  powerful  than 
he,  and  was  moreover  in  this  matter  disposed  to  make  use 
of  his  rights,  like  the  rights  which  the  robber  feels  in  the 
dagger  and  the  wild  beast  in  its  claws.  Nay  more,  sur- 
rounded as  he  was  by  spies,  perhaps  so  as  not  to  pollute 
the  respected  majesty  of  an  ambassador  with  the  obscene 
contact  of  spies,  and  convinced  by  the  brutal  violence  ex- 
ercised against  Benefratte  that  all  hope  of  harmony  was 
gone,  he  fled  secretly  to  return  to  Home. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Legate  and  the  imprisonment 
of  Benefratte,  Philip  remained  alone  with  the  stolen 
letters  of  Boniface,  hesitating  what  to  do  on  the  brink  of 
a  precipice  which  he  had  constructed  with  his  own  hands. 
A  perusal  of  the  letters  made  known  to  him  his  condemna- 
tion. He  could  not  disguise  the  fact  that  the  terrible  bur- 
den of  excommunication,  with  which  he  had  hitherto  been 
only  threatened,  at  last  rested  heavily  on  his  soul.  How 

T  History  of  Diff.,  page  98. 

8  Natalis  Alexander  who  accused  Boniface  of  being  too  hasty  with  ex- 
communication, narrates  this  infamous  imprisonment  with  the  greatest 
coolness:  "  Qui  (Nicolaus)  Pontificis  diplomatibus  interceptis,  Trecis 
comprehensus  in  carcerem  conjectus  est  Regia  jussione,  frustra  postulante 
Legate  ut  libertate  donaretur."  We  believe  in  truth  that  if  the  article 
was  not  ended  there,  Alexander  would  have  extolled  Philip  for  this.  He 
had  the  boldness  to  do  so. 


372  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

this  anathema  wa*s  likely  to  be  to  him  a  source  of  a  most 
cruel  embarrassment  before  the  eyes  of  a  nation  oppressed 
and  impoverished  by  his  robberies.  The  Barons  and  the 
Bishops,  seizing  the  opportunity,  could  at  the  same  time 
harass  him,  and  take  revenge  upon  him  for  curtailing 
their  power.  There  came  perhaps  to  his  mind  the  memory 
of  Henry  of  Germany  who  was  driven  from  his  throne, 
and  had  anathemas  hurled  against  him  by  Gregory  VII. 
But  Philip  ruled  a  people  in  whom  the  most  exalted  love 
of  country  swiftly  succeeded  to  the  ardent  desire  of  do- 
mestic revenge;  a  people  who  although  rent,  oppressed 
and  divided  by  most  furious  factions,  yet  when  attacked 
from  without  presented  a  bold  and  undivided  front  to 
repel  the  foreigner.  A  malicious  report  was  spread  that 
Boniface  in  his  defence  of  ecclesiastical  liberty  intended 
to  injure  that  of  the  French  kingdom,  and  subject  it  as  a 
fief  of  the  Church.  Boniface  was  thus  made  to  appear 
in  the  eyes  of  the  French  an  ambitious  Pontiff,  who  mak- 
ing his  spiritual  authority  subservient  to  his  temporal  in- 
terests, attacked  their  country  in  order  to  enslave  it,  and 
forcibly  drive  their  king  from  the  throne  in  order  to  make 
it  his  footstool.  And  even  if  any  idea  of  fear  had  existed 
in  Philip's  mind,  the  thought  prevailed  that  when  a  prince 
is  so  well  entrenched  in  injustice,  those  who  could  restrain 
him,  sooner  than  oppose  a  generous  resistance,  choose 
rather  to  aid  him,  in  order  to  enjoy  in  the  tranquillity  of 
servitude  the  shameful  honors  he  thrusts  upon  them. 

Philip  did  not  remain  long  undecided.  He  was  not 
wanting  in  advisers,  nor  was  he  devoid  of  expedients  when 
he  was  intent  on  usurpation.  He  assembled  the  orders  of 
the  kingdom  in  the  palace  of  the  Louvre  on  the  13th  of 
June.  The  reader  will  remember  what  we  have  said  else- 
where about  these  assemblies  under  a  king  of  the  charac- 
ter of  Philip.  The  ordinary  purpose  of  this  assembly  of 
the  States  General  was  to  take  counsel  for  the  safety  of 
the  state,  to  obtain  money,  or  to  submit  to  their  delibera- 
tions similar  matters.  On  the  present  occasion  they  were 
not  summoned  around  the  throne  of  Philip  for  any  other 
purpose  but  to  judge  the  Pontiff,  to  wrest  from  his  hands 
the  holy  Keys,  to  gain  time  by  an  appeal  to  Councils  and 
future  Popes,  and  to  evade  the  power  of  the  Church  which 
could  not  be  destroyed,  because  divine,  nor  made  to  yield, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  373 

because  it  was  exercised  by  a  most  vigorous  hand.  All 
the  acts  of  this  assembly  were  decided  in  advance,  all  that 
remained  was  to  justify  the  arbitrary  violence  by  the  forms 
of  a  false  justice.  Seated  with  the  Barons  in  that  assem- 
bly were  the  Bishops  and  Abbots,  and  they  presented  a 
pitiful  appearance.  They  came  from  the  churches  which 
they  had  surrendered  to  the  custody  of  a  prince,  even  sold 
them,  either  through  abject  fear,  or  through  courtly  blan- 
dishments which  had  softened  them.  They  knew  by  whom 
and  for  what  purpose  they  had  been  called  to  that  place ; 
they  knew  that  from  the  rock  of  the  Vatican  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  was  observing  them.  They  heard  the  lamenta- 
tions of  the  churches  despoiled  of  that  liberty,  which  had 
been  defended  by  the  sweat  and  blood  of  so  many  priests ; 
but  one  voice  ran  through  that  assembly !  "  If  you  do  not 
release  unto  us  Barrabas,  you  are  no  friend  of  Caesar." 
— and  at  these  words,  deserting  the  sanctuary,  they  at- 
tached themselves  to  a  throne  established,  not  on  a  firm 
rock,  but  on  the  changeable  and  unsteady  foundation  of 
human  vicissitudes. 

William  de  Plasian  a  knight,  advanced  to  the  centre  of 
that  assembly,  with  his  hand  perhaps  over  his  heart  to 
check  its  throbbings;  his  head  bent  in  horror  of  the  vile 
accusations  he  was  to  beget ;  and  his  eyes  perhaps  suffused 
with  some  tears  of  compassion  for  Holy  Mother  Church. 
He  had  at  his  sides  as  agents,  to  sustain  the  accusations, 
Louis,  Count  of  Evreux,  brother  of  the  King;  Guy,  Count 
of  St.  Paul;  and  John,  Count  of  Dreix.  He  commenced 
his  harangue  by  a  venomous  diatribe  against  Boniface,  in 
which  from  torrent  of  villainous  abuse  the  following  accu- 
sations against  the  Pontiff  are  collected : 9  Boniface  was 
tainted  with  heresy;  he  did  not  believe  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  nor  in  the  life  to  come,  nor  in  the  Real  Pres- 
ence of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  He  practised  the 
diabolical  art  of  sorcery  and  enchantments;  he  had  pub- 
licly preached  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  can  not  be  guilty 
of  the  sin  of  simony ;  he  was  an  intruder  in  the  Papal  See, 
being  the  murderer  of  Pope  Celestine;  he  indulged  in 

•God  be  praised;  Natalis  Alexander  when  he  wrote  the  FVth  article  of 
the  IVth  dissertation,  was  in  such  a  state  of  reason  and  justice  as  to  find 
that  these  accusations  were  black  calumnies  "  immania  accusationum, 
immo  calumniarum  capita." 


374  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

heinous  sins;  he  was  a  hideous  defender  rather  than  a 
reprover  of  fornication;  he  was  a  jesting  violator  of  fast- 
ing and  abstinence;  he  was  insatiable  of  riches  acquired 
by  simony,  for  the  advancement  of  his  relations;  he  con- 
demned ecclesiastical  ceremonies  and  all  holy  things;  he 
was  a  calumniator  of  prelates  and  the  religious  orders ;  he 
was  guilty  of  blind  implacable  hatred  against  the  King 
and  the  kingdom  of  France;  he  was  the  fomenter  of  re- 
bellion against  the  majesty  of  the  King.  In  confirmation 
of  these  charges  he  cited  the  forged  indictment  of  William 
Nogaret  against  the  Pope,  and  boldly  placed  his  hand  on 
the  Book  of  the  Gospels,  swearing  solemnly  to  the  truth 
of  all  the  charges.  Silence  reigned  in  the  hall;  even  the 
clergy  remained  silent.  De  Plasian  continued  in  a  loud 
voice,  that  he  was  moved  to  these  accusations  not  out  of 
any  hatred  for  Boniface,  but  by  ardent  zeal  for  the  Faith, 
and  by  devotion  to  Holy  Mother  Church ;  that  he  appealed 
to  a  general  council,  to  the  Holy  and  Apostolic  See,  and 
to  all  those  to  whom  it  appertained,  saving  always  the 
rights  and  honor  of  the  Holy  See.  (Surely  at  this,  me- 
thinks,  the  holy  man  should  have  crossed  his  arms  on  his 
breast,  and  bowed  his  head).  Then  turning  towards  the 
King,  he  besought  him,  in  his  quality  as  defender  of 
Holy  Mother  Church,  and  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  and  the 
prelates  who  should  sit  as  judges  in  the  council,  to  use 
their  every  endeavor  to  convoke  the  council.  Such  was 
the  result  of  the  first  two  meetings  of  the  States.10 

In  that  assembly  there  were  five  Archbishops,  namely 
of  Nicosia  in  Cyprus,  of  Rheims,  of  Sens,  of  Narbonne,  of 
Tours;  twenty-one  bishops;  eleven  abbots,  among  them 
those  of  Cluny,  of  Premontre,  and  of  Citeaux.  These 
were  horrified  at  the  calumnies  of  Plasian,  and  hence  they 
refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  accusations;  but  condescend- 
ing to  the  demands  of  the  King  and  the  Barons,  they 
favored  the  convocation  of  a  council,  to  make  clearer,  (as 
they  said)  the  innocence  of  the  Pope.  Their  words  were 
accompanied  by  the  ardent  and  usual  formulas  of  devotion 
to  the  Holy  See,  and  they  invoked  a  rigorous  observance  of 
the  Canons  and  the  statutes  of  the  Fathers.  Moreover 
because  they  feared  the  Pope,  and  they  had  good  reason 

"Hist,  du  Diff.  107. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  375 

for  it,  in  order  to  evade  just  punishment  for  their  mighty 
and  shameful  defection,  on  the  15th  of  June  they  presented 
to  the  King  a  document  with  thirty-two  seals  attached, 
in  which  they  promised  him  aid  and  favors  in  case  Boni- 
face proceeded  against  their  insolent  appeal.  The  King 
promised  his  protection  to  them  and  all  who  would  attach 
themselves  to  his  cause.  And  behold  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye  the  ramparts  of  the  Church  levelled  to  the  ground, 
and  Episcopate  enfeoffed  to  the  King,  the  sacrifice  of 
ecclesiastical  liberties  consummated,  the  Pontiff  enchained 
by  his  brethren,  and  ignominiously  betrayed  to  the  tribu- 
nal of  a  Council  convoked  by  Philip  the  Fair,  and  in  which 
he  proposed  to  take  part.11 

On  the  24th  of  June  an  immense  crowd  of  laymen  and 
ecclesiastics  'flocked  to  the  garden  of  the  royal  palace.  The 
King  there  acknowledged  his  acts.  He  ordered  the  seques- 
tration of  the  goods  of  all  the  prelates  and  other  members 
of  the  clergy  who  were  found  outside  of  the  kingdom;  he 
published  the  appeal  to  a  Council ;  and  this  was  the  birth- 
day of  the  inviolable  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The 
royal  edict  was  scattered  profusely  throughout  the  king- 
dom ;  and  all  bowed  the  head  to  this  most  Christian  King, 
crying  out  that  they  appealed  to  a  future.  Ecumenical 
Council  to  be  convened,  and  to  the  legitimate  Pope  that 
was  to  be  chosen.  The  Church  of  Paris  appealed,  the 
University  of  Paris  appealed,  the  Friars  Preachers  ap- 
pealed, and  we  know  not  how  many  others,  for  this  most 
reasonable  and  most  holy  purpose  of  not  incurring  the 
resentment  of  the  King.12  Some  religious  of  Montpellier, 
sustained  and  encouraged  by  Fra  Raymond,  their  provin- 
cial, refused  to  appeal  and  were  banished  by  Philip.  The 
same  fate  befell  those  few  others  who  had  the  courage  to 
resist  the  will  of  the  insensate  despot.  Such  were  all  the 
Italian  bishops,  who  were  in  France,  and  the  Abbot  of 
Citeaux,  whom  he  imprisoned.  In  order  that  the  reader 
may  know  what  this  appeal  to  a  council  signified,  (the 
learned  will  pardon  us;  we  write  also  for  those  ignorant 
of  these  things),  it  is  necessary  for  us  first  to  hear  what 
a  reprobate  Boniface  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  French. 

11  Personaliter  intendit  interesse.     Nat.  Alexander,  Art.  IV,  n.  1. 
u  Hist.  du.  Diff.   163.     "  Ne  indignationem  Domini  nostri  Regis  incur- 
rere possitis." — 


376  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

The  news  of  scandalous  conventicles  held  in  France,  and 
an  appeal  made  to  a  general  council  and  to  his  successor, 
was  made  known  to  Boniface  not  by  the  legates,  but  prob- 
ably by  some  victims  who  escaped  from  the  hands  of 
Philip.  Accused  by  an  infamous  calumny  of  the  grossest 
depravity,  he  an  old  man,  a  more  than  octogenarian;  ac- 
cused of  disbelieving  the  dogmas  which  he  had  so  long  and 
so  strongly  defended,  he  felt  his  heart  pierced  by  grief, 
not  so  much  through  danger  to  his  reputation,  as  through 
the  excesses  and  irreverence  of  a  people,  which  still  called 
itself  Christian  and  Catholic.  Neither  times  nor  circum- 
stances permitted  him  to  remain  silent.  Duty  obliged 
him  to  speak,  not  so  much  to  defend  himself,  as  to  show 
that  his  sovereign  dignity  was  not  lowered  nor  crushed 
by  the  vile  slanders  of  a  mad  prince.  On  the  15th  of 
August  in  a  sermon  in  full  consistory  he  cleared  himself 
with  a  solemn  oath  of  all  the  crimes  with  which  he  was 
charged  in  Prance.  Then  he  dispatched  various  constitu- 
tions, one  of  which,  in  order  to  provide  against  the  violence 
of  Philip,  declared  that  the  citations  to  appear  before  the 
Apostolic  See  made  to  kings  and  emperors,  or  any  other 
persons  whatever,  even  if  intercepted  or  not  received, 
would  have  their  full  effect,  as  they  would  be  affixed  to  the 
Apostolic  Palace,  and  to  the  doors  of  the  principal  church 
of  the  place  where  the  Papal  Court  then  resided.  It  be- 
gan with  these  words:  " Rem  non  novam  aggredimur." 
And  by  two  others  he  deprived  the  Doctors  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  of  the  faculty  of  teaching  and  conferring 
degrees  of  the  licentiate  and  doctorship;  and  he  reserved 
to  himself  the  provision  of  all  the  vacant  churches  in 
France,  until  Philip  would  submit  to  the  Holy  See.  On 
the  1st  of  September  he  published  from  Anagni  for  a  per- 
petual memorial  of  the  thing,  the  following :  "  We  have 
"  been  informed  of  the  acts  committed  in  France  on  St. 
"  John's  day  in  the  garden  of  the  royal  palace ;  we  know 
"  the  crimes  of  which  we  have  been  accused ;  we  know  of 
"  the  requested  convocation  of  a  Council,  and  of  the  ap- 
"  peal  to  this  same  council,  in  order  to  prevent  us  from 
"  proceeding  against  the  King,  the  barons,  and  the  French 
"  prelates.  We  know  of  the  league  entered  into  between 
"  Philip  and  the  prelates,  to  relieve  them  of  all  subjection 
"  to  us ;  we  know  the  friendly  welcome  extended  to  Stephen 


HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  377 

"  Colonna,  our  enemy.  Reflecting  upon  these  things,  it 
"  will  be  seen  that  by  men,  whose  tongue  was  in  mire 
"  whilst  their  eyes  were  fixed  on  Heaven,  we  have  been 
"  accused  of  heresy,  our  reputation  has  been  blackened 
"  with  as  many  crimes  as  their  imagination  could  invent." 
"  But,"  continues  the  distressed  Pontiff,  "  when  was  it  ever 
"  heard  that  we  were  tainted  with  heresy?  Who  shall 
"  say  that  our  family,  and  all  Campania  whence  we 
"  sprung,  were  ever  suspected  of  such?  It  is  certain  that 
"  yesterday  and  before,  as  long  as  we  were  indulging  him 
"  with  favors,  we  were  considered  as  Catholic  by  this  same 
"  king,  but  to-day  he  covers  us  with  infamy.  Whence 
"  comes  this  sudden  change?  Whence  this  irreverence  of 
"  a  son  ?  Let  the  whole  world  know  that  the  remedies 
"  which  we  wished  to  prescribe  for  his  correction,  for  the 
"  cure  of  the  wounds  of  his  sins,  and  the  bitterness  of  the 
"  penance  by  which  we  wished  to  cleanse  them,  put  in  his 
"  hands  the  arms  of  fraud,  and  have  cast  him  into  the  fire 
"  of  infidelity.  Certainly  we  are  greater  than  a  Bishop 
"  of  Milan,  and  a  king  of  France  is  less  than  a  Valentinian 
"  Augustus ;  yet  this  humble  and  Catholic  emperor  was  not 
"  ashamed  to  submit,  as  a  sinner,  to  the  bishop  of  Milan, 
"  and  to  accept,  the  remedies  which  the  charity  of  the 
"  holy  bishop  had  offered.  But  Philip,  this  new  Sen- 
"  nacherib  tossing  his  head  in  derision,  let  him  tremble  at 
"  the  words  addressed  to  Sennacherib : — '  Whom  dost  thou 
"dishonor?  Whom  dost  thou  blaspheme?  Against  whom 
"  hast  thou  raised  thy  proud  face  and  voice?  Against  the 
"  Holy  One  of  Israel.' — This  holy  one  of  Israel  is  the 
"  Vicar  of  God,  the  successor  of  Peter,  to  whom  was  said : 
ff  Thou  art  Peter  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  ~build  my 
"  Church^  and  the  gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
"  it;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  ~bind  upon  earth  shall  be 
"  bound  in  Heaven/' — Hence  he  who  will  not  follow  the 
"  bark  of  Peter  will  be  lost  in  the  storm,  and  he  who  fol- 
"  lows  should  submit  to  the  orders  of  the  pilot.  Lately 
"  in  his  letters  he  called  us  most  holy  Father  in  Christ ; 
"  now  whereas  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  obligation 
"  of  our  pastoral  office  will  not  allow  us  to  defer  correc- 
"  tion  any  longer,  this  well-beloved  but  vain  son,  puffed 
"  up  and  arrogant,  rebels  against  us,  and  adds  to  former, 
"  new  and  viler  abuse.  What !  Has  the  state  of  the  Church 


378  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  changed?  Has  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs 
"  sunk  into  the  mire,  that  this  way  will  henceforth  be 
"  wide  open  to  kings  and  princes?  In  a  short  course  of 
"  time  it  would  occur  that  to  escape  the  chastisements  of 
"  the  Roman  Pontiff  to  humble  his  sovereign  power,  he 
"  would  be  treated  as  a  heretic,  as  soon  as  he  raised  his 
"  hand  to  keep  them  in  bounds.  Prompt  must  be  the  reme- 
"  dies  for  such  contagious  errors ;  promptly  must  the 
"  sword  be  drawn  to  suppress  the  wicked  example,  other- 
"  wise  kings  and  princes  at  each  tightening  of  the  rein, 
"  would  not  refrain  from  blaspheming  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
"  tiff,  and  appealing  to  the  convocation  of  councils  with- 
"  out  a  head.  Punishment  must  be  promptly  given,  if  all 
"  hope  of  repentance  is  lost,  so  that  God  may  not  demand 
"  their  blood  from  our  hands." — These  were  the  last  words 
that  were  uttered  by  the  mouth  of  Boniface.13 

On  the  8th  of  September  Boniface  published  finally  the 
bull  of  excommunication  against  Philip,  and  the  first 
words  were  the  following :  "  Seated  by  divine  dispensa- 
"  tion  on  the  high  throne  of  Peter,  we  hold  the  place  of 
"  Him  to  whom  the  Father  said :  Thou  art  my  son,  this 
"  day  have  I  begotten  thee.  Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  thee 
"  as  a  heritage,  and  place  in  thy  power  the  utmost  parts 
"  of  the  earth ;  thou  shalt  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and 
"  shall  break  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel." — And 
this  to  admonish  kings,  and  teach  the  judges  of  the  earth ; 
Then  he  mentioned  the  faults  of  Philip,  and  excommuni- 
cated him,  and  ordered  the  Papal  Bull  to  be  affixed  to  the 
doors  of  the  Church  of  Anagni. 

The  reader  will  observe,  that  even  if  Philip  and  all  the 
crowd  of  courtiers,  clerics  and  laymen,  had  erred  in  noth- 
ing but  in  an  appeal  to  a  Council,  he  deserved  to  be  ex- 
communicated, because  in  breaking  with  the  Pontiff,  he 
fell  into  schism  and  dragged  with  him  into  the  abyss  the 
entire  Church  of  France.  Certain  authors,  theologians  or 
lawyers,  we  know  not  how  to  call  them,  have  often  dis- 
puted the  question  of  an  appeal  from  the  Pope  to  a  coun- 
cil, and  have  been  divided  as  to  whether  the  one  is  supe- 
rior to  the  other,  from  which  opinion  is  derived  the  other 
of  the  legitimacy  or  illegitimacy  of  these  appeals. 

u  See  document  Q. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  379 

We  shall  repeat  here  what  we  have  said  elsewhere  on 
another  point,  namely  that  we  do  not  wish  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  either  one  of  the  two  parties  in  dispute;  but 
rather  turning  aside  we  prefer  to  ask  human  reason,  what 
teachings  flow  from  this  truth:  that  the  true  Church  of 
Christ  has  a  supreme  head,  who  is  the  Vicar  of  Christ 
himself.  The  two  parties  agree  on  this  truth,  and  how 
then  do  they  arrive  at  opposite  consequences?  The  reader 
will  see  this  in  the  explanation  we  propose  to  give,  not  as 
a  theologian  or  a  jurist,  but  only  as  a  reasonable  man. 

The  fallibility  of  judges  in  every  society  concedes  the 
right  of  appeal  to  a  superior  tribunal.  But  the  necessity 
of  not  arresting  the  course  of  justice,  and  the  fear  of  de- 
stroying the  force  and  dignity  of  the  laws,  has  placed  a 
necessary  limit  to  successive  appeals,  and  has  constituted 
a  judge  from  whom  there  is  no  possible  appeal,  and  when- 
ever done,  this  appeal  is  considered  an  open  rebellion 
against  the  laws.  This  supreme  judge  then  should  be 
invested  with  permanent  authority,  and  always  ready  to 
receive  the  appeals,  so  that  injustice  be  not  allowed  to 
triumph,  nor  power  to  languish  in  a  scandalous  inaction 
through  the  uncertainty  of  law  and  the  want  of  a  decision. 
In  fact,  not  to  go  out  of  France,  if  a  Frenchman  injured 
in  his  goods  or  rights  by  a  sentence  of  the  King  would 
have  appealed  to  a  tribunal  or  judge  higher  than  the  King 
himself,  Philip  certainly  would  have  imposed  silence  on 
this  rash  appellant  by  delivering  him  to  the  gibbet.  For 
by  the  fact  of  appeal  he  would  have  questioned  the  title 
of  the  Prince  as  the  sovereign  head  of  the  kingdom,  and 
would  have  robbed  him  of  his  power.  Now  a  Catholic, 
who  of  his  own  free  will  is  a  Catholic,  freely  believing  that 
the  Church  is  a  human  society  endowed  by  God  in  its  rul- 
ing body  with  an  infallible  authority,  although  the  in- 
dividuals charged  with  its  direction  may  be  subject  to 
error,  if  on  account  of  this  fallibility  this  Catholic  recog- 
nizes that  he  and  his  coreligionists  have  the  right  of  ap- 
peal to  a  superior  judge,  then  likewise  he  ought  to  believe 
that  there  is  in  the  Church  also  a  supreme  judge,  before 
whom  this  right  resolves  itself  into  blind  submission.  So 
far  the  opposing  theologians  agree.  But  they  commence 
to  separate  as  soon  as  they  undertake  to  decide  who  is  this 
supreme  judge.  Some  hold  he  is  the  sovereign  Pontiff, 


380  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII. 

while  others  say  it  is  a  future  council.14  But  we  think 
that  in  the  opinion  of  the  latter  there  is  a  contradiction. 
He  who  appeals,  submits  himself  and  the  judge,  with  whom 
he  is  dissatisfied,  to  the  judge  to  whom  he  appeals;  there- 
fore before  the  council,  the  appellant  and  the  Pontiff  are 
equally  amenable,  and  in  this  condition  the  Pontiff  will  be 
and  will  not  be  at  the  same  time  the  supreme  Pastor  of 
the  Church.  If,  at  the  first  cry  of  appeal  he  lowers  him- 
self to  the  condition  of  party,  how  can  he  at  the  same  time 
raise  the  voice  of  pastor  and  sovereign  judge  to  convoke 
an  assembly  of  pastors  who  could  not  stir  if  he  were 
silent?  Besides  a  future  council  to  be  convoked,  (we 
speak  of  a  general  council ) ,  is  wanting  in  the  quality  and 
principal  characteristic  of  a  sovereign  judge  of  appeal, 
that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  invested  with  an  authority  perma- 
nent and  uninterrupted  which  permits  it  to  reply  to  the 
first  request  of  the  appellant.  A  council  is  a  very  uncer- 
tain tribunal,  and  events  sometimes  render  it  impossible. 
A  plague,  a  war  and  other  circumstances  which  would 
hinder  a  convocation  of  bishops,  would  close  for  a  long 
time  this  tribunal  to  the  appellant;  and  in  the  meantime 
the  authority  of  the  Church  would  remain  mute  and  un- 
certain, the  laws  would  be  violated,  and  crime  would  go 
unpunished.  If  then  the  opinion  of  appealing  to  a  coun- 
cil was  true,  either  the  bishops  would  be  obliged  to  re- 
main perpetually  in  session  in  order  to  judge  and  define, 
or  the  faithful  be  ever  fluctuating  on  points  of  faith  and 
morals.  But  Christ  established  the  bishops  to  rule  the 
particular  churches,  and  not  to  form  permanent  councils. 
He  has  constituted  a  judge,  who,  by  the  universality  of 
his  power,  sits  at  the  pinnacle  of  the  Church,  and  arrests 
the  course  of  ascending  appeals,  and  he  is  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff. 

If  someone,  alarmed  at  the  human  peccability  of  this 
judge  and  forgetting  that  he  lives  among  men  and  not 
angels,  would  wish  to  appeal  to  a  higher  tribunal,  we 
would  advise  him  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  reason  to 
submit  in  the  same  manner  that  he  would  submit  to  a 
civil  prince  through  fear  of  the  halter  or  guillotine. 
Hence,  in  that  which  concerns  Boniface,  Philip  did  not 

14  This  work  was  written  before  the  Vatican  Council,  in  which  the 
question  who  is  the  supreme  judge  was  forever  settled. — Translator's  note. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

appeal  to  a  Council,  but  he  himself  judged  and  condemned 
the  Pontiff.  He  invoked  the  Council  and  the  future  legi- 
timate Pope,  because  he  judged  Boniface  whom  he  already 
considered  a  false  Pope.  Now,  this  sentence  of  the  ille- 
gitimacy of  the  Papacy  of  Boniface,  from  whom  did  it 
emanate?  If  it  came  from  a  legitimate  tribunal,  why 
appeal  to  a  Council,  whence  it  might  emanate?  If  on  the 
contrary  from  a  illegitimate  tribunal,  that  is  to  say,  from 
the  assembly  of  the  Louvre,  it  should  have  judged  and 
condemned  Philip,  and  by  no  means  Boniface,  who  in  the 
opinion  of  these  same  Gallicans,  did  not  cease  to  be  the 
legitimate  Pope,  until  pronounced  so  by  an  unappealable 
tribunal.  Among  the  defenders  of  Philip,  Bossuet  was  an 
appellant.  Once  there  lived  in  Italy  a  King  called  Theo- 
doric,  a  Goth,  and  consequently  considered  a  barbarian,  an 
Arian  in  religion,  beset  by  the  followers  of  the  anti-pope 
Lawrence,  who  accused  Symmachus,  the  legitimate  Pope 
of  heinous  crimes,  and  besought  the  King  to  send  a  bishop 
to  inquire  into  the  affairs  of  the  Pope.  The  King  sent  on 
this  mission,  Peter  bishop  of  Altina.  But  Symmachus 
convoked  a  synod  of  all  the  bishops  of  Italy,  not  for  the 
sake  of  being  judged,  but  of  being  solemnly  vindicated. 
The  Arian  king  cooperated  actively  in  this  convocation, 
and  admonished  the  bishops  that  they  were  assembled  pre- 
cisely because  he  did  not  wish  to  intrude  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Church.  When  they  were  all  assembled  before  him, 
they  boldly  asked  him  why  they  were  summoned,  they 
who  were  so  infirm  and  so  worn  out  by  years.  The  Arian 
replied :  "  To  establish  the  innocence  of  Symmachus  by 
your  judgment."  Strangely  surprised,  the  holy  prelates 
protested  that  they  could  not  be  called  together  except  by 
the  order  of  that  Pope  who  was  accused,  and  pleaded  their 
incompetence  to  judge  his  Apostolic  see,  which  was  above 
them.  But  reassured  by  Symmachus,  who  appeared  among 
them,  that  it  was  he  who  assembled  them,  they  immedi- 
ately restored  the  Pontiff  to  the  dignity  of  which  he  had 
been  deprived  by  the  Schismatics,15  and  they  would  not 
even  examine  the  charges  against  him,  leaving  it  to  him- 
self whether  to  answer  or  not  the  complaints  of  his  ene- 
mies. Theodoric,  informed  of  the  facts,  approved  of  them 

"Council  Rom.  apud.  Labbe,  Tom.  5,  concil.  coll.  501-502. 


382  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

fully,  and  pronounced  this  sentence  which  should  be  en- 
graved on  the  crown  of  all  the  kings  of  the  earth:  "In 
"  ecclesiastical  affairs  I  have  no  other  right  but  rever- 
"  ence"  16  These  Italians  bishops  came  out  of  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  not  from  the  royal  court ;  and  this  prince  although 
a  heretic,  had  however  a  deep  sense  of  justice  and  right. 
We  offer  this  explanation  as  pertinent  to  the  appeal  of 
the  French  to  a  general  council. 

Philip  was  aware  that  he  could  lodge  the  cry  of  an  ap- 
peal, but  could  not  assemble  a  general  council  to  receive 
him  as  an  appellant.  The  Church  is  not  confined  to  the 
frontiers  of  France.  Wherefore  if  the  French  bishops 
were  dragged  to  a  council  by  the  royal  satellites,  notwith- 
standing the  silence  and  without  the  order  of  the  pontiff, 
the  remainder  of  the  episcopate  could  not  be  summoned; 
and  then  Philip  would  have  to  be  contented  with  his  coun- 
cil in  the  garden  of  the  Louvre.  He  wished  to  seize  a 
right,  but  he  found  in  his  hands  the  sword,  which  is  the 
right  of  force,  and  he  resolved  to  use  it.  He  entered  into 
a  diabolic  counsel  with  Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  a 
most  profligate  wretch,  in  which  a  nefarious  crime  was 
planned,  which  we  would  not  have  the  courage  to  narrate, 
were  it  not  that  others  had  done  so  previously. 

A  handful  of  satellites  sent  by  Philip  crossed  the  Alps 
into  Italy.  At  their  head  marched  Nogaret,  Du  Plasian 
and  Sciarra  Colonna,  animated  by  the  same  fury  of  the 
King,  and  thirsting  for  revenge.  To  hide  their  purpose 
they  falsely  announced  that  they  had  come  to  negotiate  a 
peace  between  the  Pope  and  Philip.  Believing  that  the 
money  they  carried  was  insufficient,  they  brought  with 
them  royal  letters  of  credit  on  the  Petruccis,  Florentine 
bankers.17  So  true  is  it  that  it  is  in  the  destiny  of  our 
unfortunate  country,  that  the  foreign  treacheries  of  which 
it  is  the  victim,  have  been  bought  by  gold,  and  achieved 
by  the  treason  of  her  own  children.  They  arrived  in  Tus- 
cany, and  assembled  near  Siena  in  the  castle  of  Staggia, 
the  property  of  Musaccio  Franzese,  who  had  come  from 
France,  says  Villani,18  to  serve  as  guide  for  Charles,  and 
by  his  counsels  had  powerfully  contributed  to  the  ruin 
of  affairs  at  Florence.  Although  the  authors  who  be- 

M "  Nee  aliquid  ad  se  prater  reverentiam  de  ecclesiasticis  negotiis 
pertinere."  .  .  .  ,  "Rossi.  Life  of  Boniface.  "Book  8,  chap.  48. 


THE   OUTRAGE   AT    AXAGXI,    BONIFACE    Vllt   AXD   HIS   ASSAILANTS. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  333 

lieved  Musaceio  to  be  French  are  contradicted  by  Bail- 
let,19  we  are  not  allowed  to  follow  their  opinion,  owing  to 
the  clear  and  precise  terms  of  Villani.  In  that  castle  a 
wicked  council  was  held;  and  there  is  not  doubt  that  the 
death  of  Boniface  was  plotted.  From  the  height  of  that 
fortress  the  dastardly  satellites  of  Philip  of  France,  took 
occasion  to  plan  their  crime  and  prepared  the  means. 
Three  of  their  accomplices  John  Mouchet,  Thier  d'Hiri- 
con,  and  James  di  Gesserin,  traversed  the  cities  of  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter  to  sound  the  dispositions  of  the 
people,  and  prepare  their  minds  in  favor  of  the  Kings, 
whence  they  would  be  less  amazed  at  what  was  about  to 
happen.  They  called  in  aid  the  Ghibellines ;  they  won  over 
the  wicked  by  money,  and  they  quieted  the  good  with  the 
lying  pretext  of  coming  as  ambassadors  of  peace.  The 
sons  of  John  of  Cessano,  imprisoned  by  Boniface;  those 
of  Maffeo  of  Anagni ;  Rinaldo  of  Supino,  governor  of  Fer- 
entino,  and  other  barons  of  the  province  of  Campania, 
offered  their  services  to  the  French.  While  still  dispersed 
through  Tuscany  there  remained  the  dishonorable  soldiers 
of  Charles  of  Valois,  called  into  Italy  at  so  great  a  price, 
and  with  promises  by  Boniface,  not  having  anything  better 
to  do  they  offered  their  services  to  Nogaret  to  cooperate 
in  his  horrible  sacrilege;  and  those  arms  so  dearly  bought 
for  the  defence  of  the  Holy  See,  now  are  turned  against 
the  pontifical  breast  of  Boniface.  A  terrible  proof  that 
the  assistance  of  a  stranger  is  always  fatal  to  those  who 
seek  it  in  their  own  home. 

Nogaret  had  at  his  disposal  a  good  number  of  soldiers. 
Sciarra  had  collected  three  hundred  cavalry,  and  some 
companies  of  infantry,  to  which  were  added  two  hundred 
more  of  cavalry,  detached  from  the  army  of  Valois;  and 
the  number  in  all  was  about  eight  hundred  armed  men. 
The  gold  of  France  flowed  at  Anagni,  where  the  Pontiff 
was  holding  his  court;  and  this  shameful  motive  power 
of  so  many  actions  there  exercised  its  fatal  influence  on 
hearts.  Many  of  the  chief  men  of  the  town,  some  cardinals 
of  the  Ghibelline  party,  the  very  domestics  and  servants 
of  the  Pope  entered  into  the  designs  of  the  conspirators. 
Unrelenting  history  should  mention  among  these  second- 

wHist.  de  Demelez,  page  211. 


384  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

ers,  Richard  of  Siena,  and  Napoleon  Orsini;  she  should 
tie  them  to  the  pillory  and  dishonor  them  before  all  ages ; 
loaded  with  benefits  by  Boniface  they  betrayed  him  with 
the  most  barefaced  ingratitude.  It  is  easy  to  explain  the 
mystery  and  the  rapidity  with  which  corruption  had  crept 
into  the  pontifical  palace,  when  we  reflect  that  elective 
governments  greatly  arouse  ambitions  and  the  love  of 
novelty;  that  the  inflexible  severity  of  Boniface  had  per- 
haps restrained  some  wrongdoers  too  much;  and  finally 
the  most  holy  counsels  of  religions  and  honesty,  are  pow- 
erless in  factional  hatreds. 

Thirsting  the  most  for  vengeance,  and  knowing  better 
the  locality,  Sciarra  Colonna  with  three  hundred  cavalry 
and  a  small  company  of  infantry,  was  the  first  to  advance, 
and  he  secretly  reconnoitred  the  environs  of  Anagni.20 
Boniface  noticed  nothing  for  the  reason  that  he  did  not 
believe  that  the  bloody  era  of  Nero,  in  which  the  Pontiffs 
were  persecuted  by  the  sword,  could  possibly  return. 
During  the  night,  the  gates  of  the  town  were  opened  and 
the  French  entered  Anagni,  displaying  the  banner  of  the 
lilies  of  France,  and  shouting :  "  Death  to  Boniface,  long 
live  the  King  of  France."  The  people  of  Anagni  betray- 
ing this  Pontiff,  their  countryman,  followed  them,  and  re- 
peated their  cries.  The  house  of  Peter  Gaetani,  nephew 
of  the  Pope  was  taken  and  plundered.  On  the  7th  of 
September  at  the  break  of  day,  the  brutal  satellites  rushed 
against  the  doors  of  the  palace,  where  a  venerable  old 
man,  protected  by  the  sanctity  of  his  office  of  supreme 
Pastor,  was  quietly  sleeping.  The  noise  of  the  tumult, 
and  the  influence  of  money  had  left  his  palace  deserted. 
The  Cardinals  fled  in  disguise  to  save  their  lives ;  only  two 
remained,  whose  courage  showed  itself  greater  than  this 
unheard  of  and  terrible  misfortune;  they  were  Nicholas 
Boccassini,  Bishop  of  Ostia,  and  Peter  of  Spain,  Bishop  of 
Sabina.  Thus  aroused  and  startled  by  the  approach  of 
danger,  the  troubled  Pontiff  looked  around  and  found 
himself  almost  alone.  But  he  remained  himself,  and  that 
sufficed.  He  asked  a  truce  from  Sciarra,  and  he  obtained 
only  nine  hours,  during  which  he  strove  to  prevail  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  Anagni  to  liberate  him,  but  in  vain. 

^Ferreti,  Vic.  Hist.  Book  3. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  385 

Then,  he  demanded  of  the  proud  Colonna  what  he  wanted 
of  him.  Thirsting  for  vengeance,  and  gratified  at  the 
plight  of  the  Pontiff,  he  replied  in  writing :  "  Let  my 
"  brother,  my  uncle,  and  all  the  members  of  our  family  be 
"  restored  to  their  former  rank,  and  let  you  renounce  the 
"  Papacy."  The  noble  Pontiff  refused ;  then  he  remained 
silent,  his  heart  being  moved  by  the  thought  of  the  extremi- 
ties to  which  the  cruel  Sciarra  would  be  carried.  In  fact 
the  French  despairing  of  succeeding  in  their  purpose  by  in- 
timidation, furiously  had  recourse  to  violence. 

The  doors  of  the  Pontifical  palace  had  been  closed,  and 
fortified  as  it  was  it  resisted  the  attacks  of  the  assailants. 
But  as  it  was  joined  to  the  Cathedral  of  Anagni,  in  order 
to  enter,  they  opened  a  way  through  the  Church,  which 
they  set  on  fire.  Gaetani,  a  nephew  of  Boniface,  bore  th& 
first  shock,  but  after  having  fought  courageously  he  and 
his  retainers  were  obliged  to  surrender.  The  rebels  ad- 
vanced, leaving  behind  the  profaned  cathedral;  the  flames 
which  were  consuming  it,  cast  a  weird  light  on  the  bodies, 
lying  dead  around,  of  those  who  perished  in  the  fray, 
among  whom  was  the  Archbishop  elect  of  Strigonia.  The 
evening  of  this  infernal  day  arrived;  and  the  darkness  of 
the  night  favored  this  horde  of  robbers  who  invested  the 
palace.  The  venerable  Pontiff  retired  to  his  apartments, 
and  there  awaited  death.  Some  tears  trickled  down  his 
cheeks;  but  scarcely  had  he  heard  the  windows  and  doors 
of  his  palace  broken,  and  had  seen  the  light  of  the  con- 
flagration, than  feeling  ashamed  of  his  tears,  he  dried 
them,  and  said  to  two  ecclesiastics  wrho  were  beside  him: 
"  Xow  since  I  have  been  betrayed  like  Jesus  Christ,  and 
"  delivered  into  the  hands  of  my  enemies  to  be  put  to 
"  death,  I  desire  and  wish  to  die  as  Sovereign  Pontiff." 
And  after  saying  this,  he  put  on  the  pontifical  cloak;  he 
placed  the  tiara  on  his  head,  he  held  the  holy  keys  in  his 
hands,  together  with  the  cross  which  he  kissed  and  pressed 
to  his  heart,  in  order  that  he  might  draw  from  it  that 
power  and  strength  which 'Christ  gave  to  it  to  overcome 
error  and  injustice.  So  clothed  in  the  Pontifical  robes, 
and  prepared  to  meet  death,  he  ascended  his  throne  and 
there  sat ;  the  two  cardinals  shielded  him  with  their  robes. 
There  was  not  found  even  one  Italian !  The  white  locks 
of  the  venerable  old  man ;  the  consciousness  of  the  liberty 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

of  the  Church,  for  which  he  was  to  die  a  martyr;  the 
beauty  of  this  great  soul,  as  depicted  on  his  countenance, 
and  in  his  entire  personality;  and  that  mysterious  and 
touching  dignity  which  surrounds  the  man  on  the  brink  of 
the  grave,  restrained  for  an  instant  the  arm  of  the  angry 
Sciarra,  who,  after  having  battered  down  the  door,  entered 
the  apartment  of  the  Pope  to  strike  him  in  that  tremen- 
dous majesty.  The  rough  and  proud  Nogaret  followed 
him,  and  with  the  insolence  of  a  butcher,  said  to  the  Pon- 
tiff :  "  We  are  come  to  lead  you  captive  to  Lyons,  to  de- 
"  prive  you  of  the  dignity  of  Pope,  in  a  council  to  be  con- 
"  vened  in  that  city  to  judge  you ;  "  and  then  he  dragged 
him  violently  from  his  throne.  Boniface  replied  to  him 
with  incredible  courage :  "  Here  is  my  head,  here  is  my 
"  neck ;  I,  a  Catholic,  legitimate  Pontiff,  Vicar  of  Jesus 
"  Christ,  am  willing  cheerfully  to  be  deposed  and  con- 
"  demned  by  the  Patarini.  I  long  to  die  for  the  Faith  of 
"  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  Church."  These  words  were 
more  loud-sounding  than  a  thunderbolt  to  that  ruffian. 
Boniface  was  unarmed ;  but  a  superhuman  strength  shone 
in  his  eyes  and  appeared  in  his  words,  that  strength  of 
God,  who  never  abandons  his  ministers  in  time  of  persecu- 
tion. Ah !  would  to  God  that  people  were  always  con- 
vinced of  this,  and  never  dishonor  the  venerable  dignity  of 
the  priesthood,  by  stooping  to  the  great  ones  of  this  earth 
to  beg  for  that  support  which  is  so  frail,  that  an  infuriated 
people  shatters  it  at  every  toss  of  the  head.  Nogaret, 
startled  and  ashamed,  because  the  word  Patarini  recalled 
the  memory  of  his  grandfather  who  was  burned  as  a 
heretic,  could  make  no  reply.21  But  the  brutal  Sciarra 
found  words  and  means  worthy  of  him;  he  loaded  the 
venerable  Pontiff  with  abuse,  and  went  so  far  as  to  strike 
him  in  the  face  with  his  glove.22  Despairing  of  subduing 

"Baillet.  225. 

22  Violently  opposed  though  he  was  to  Boniface,  Dante  relented  at  its 
contemplation,  and  indignantly  sang  of  his  enemy: 

"Entering  Alagna;  lo  the  fleur-de-lis, 
And  in  his  vicar,  Christ  a  captive  led; 
I  see  him  mocked  a  second  time; — again 
The  vinegar  and  gall  produced  I  see; 
And  Christ  himself  twixt  living  robbers  slain." 

Wright's  translation.     Purgatory,  canto  XX. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  387 

the  indomitable' spirit  of  the  Pope  by  force,  these  ruffians 
left  him  guarded  by  soldiers,  and  they  returned  to  their 
followers  who  were  sacking  the  palace.  The  treasury  was 
plundered;  the  relics  of  the  saints  were  scattered  and  the 
precious  reliquaries  stolen;  and  the  archives  and  privi- 
leges of  the  Roman  Church  were  torn  to  shreds.  For  three 
days  this  whirlwind  ravaged  the  Papal  palace.  During 
all  this  time  Boniface  took  no  food  of  any  kind,  either 
because  distress  of  mind  over  these  misfortunes  removed 
the  desire  for  it,  or  because  his  jailers  desiring  his  death, 
refused  to  give  him  any.  The  inhabitants  of  Anagni  had 
committed  a  sacrilegious  betrayal.  A  man,  their  country- 
man, the  universal  father  of  the  faithful,  had  been  not 
only  abandoned  by  them,  but  was  also  perfidiously  sold 
to  his  enemies,  at  a  time  when,  sojourning  among  them,  he 
confided  in  their  care  and  fidelity.  Treason  needs  no 
avenger;  it  is  itself  its  own  judge  and  its  own  executioner. 
The  third  day  of  the  French  invasion,  the  inhabitants  of 
Anagni,  aroused  by  Cardinal  Fieschi  di  Lavagno,  were 
seized  with  a  lively  and  sudden  feeling  of  repentance  and 
shame,  and  in  view  of  the  crime  of  which  they  were  guilty, 
they  flew  to  arms,  and  rushed  against  the  French,  crying 
out :  "  Long  live  the  Pope,  death  to  the  traitors."  Many 
were  slain ;  all  were  put  to  flight ;  a  great  part  of  the  treas- 
ure was  recovered ;  and  the  standard  of  the  fleur-de-lis  was 
trailed  in  the  mire. 

The  tempest  having  subsided,  and  those  robbers  dis- 
persed, the  venerable  Pontiff  presented  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs  leading  to  the  palace  worn  and  exhausted, 
and  with  serene  countenance  spoke  words  of  pardon  and 
of  peace.  He  pardoned  all  those  who  had  betrayed  him, 
and  those  who  had  held  him  a  prisoner,  and  the  Cardinals 
Richard  of  Siena,  and  Napoleon  Orsini,  and  even  Rinaldo 
of  Anagni,  the  chief  and  leader  of  the  domestic  treason, 
whom  the  people  brought  to  him,  bound  in  chains  with 
his  sons.  That  soul  which  had  been  able  to  stand  like  a 
rock  in  the  midst  of  daggers,  knew  how  to  resist  fault- 
lessly the  fury  of  revenge. 

When  the  news  of  the  dastardly  crime  at  Anagni  reached 
Rome,  the  inhabitants  arose  in  great  indignation  at  the 
injury  done  to  the  Pontiff,  and  forthwith  sent  four  hun- 
dred knights  under  the  leadership  of  Matthew  and  James 


388         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

Orsini.  Under  the  protection  of  these,  he  departed,  leav- 
ing Anagni  plunged  in  grief.  The  inhabitants  besought 
him  not  to  leave  and  allow  them  to  have  time  to  efface 
their  infamy  by  unequivocal  marks  of  repentance.  When 
he  arrived  in  Home,  he  was  met  by  a  vast  concourse  of 
people  who  came  to  fete  and  applaud  him,  so  that  the 
entry  and  reception  partook  of  the  nature  of  that  of  a 
conqueror;  and  yet  the  Pontiff  was  returned  from  the 
greatest  tribulation,  in  which  he  appeared  humiliated  and 
vanquished.  This  teaches  us  that  the  ruin  of  the  material 
force  of  the  Church,  far  from  weakening  her,  on  the  con- 
trary strengthens  and  elevates  her  power  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people.  Cardinal  Napoleon  Orsini  followed  him;  and 
the  Pontiff,  in  order  to  show  that  he  had  sincerely  par- 
doned him,  graciously  invited  him  to  his  table.  But  that 
boorish  man,  fancying  that  the  Pope  may  have  been  en- 
feebled not  merely  in  body  but  also  in  mind  by  the  in- 
juries inflicted  on  him,  had  the  audacity  to  say  to  him 
with  a  proud  air :  "  that  it  was  at  length  time  for  him  to 
"  restore  the  Colonnas  to  favor ;  and  grant  all  that  had 
"  been  taken  by  force."  It  is  certain  that  this  language 
in  view  of  the  recent  crimes  of  Sciarra  Colonna,  was  a 
piece  of  outrageous  insolence.  Boniface  answered  the 
haughty  Orsini  by  a  refusal.  He  would  be  willing  to 
pardon,  but  without  compulsion,  as  his  dignity  of  sover- 
eign demanded.  And  at  that  time  we  believe  there  hap- 
pened that  which  Ferrettus  of  Vincenza,  and  the  Chron- 
icler of  Parmo  narrate,  that  the  Orsinis  held  the  Pope  in 
such  rigorous  seclusion,  that  it  served  as  a  second  impris- 
onment to  him. 

Boniface  perceived,  from  the  audacity  of  the  Cardinal, 
that  the  scandals  of  Anagni  had  greatly  injured  his 
authority;  that  the  anger  of  Philip  not  sufficiently  ap- 
peased, would  become  worse;  and  that  the  Orsinis  also 
would  offer  their  services  to  this  prince.  Hence  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  Charles  II,  King  of  Naples,  beseeching  him  to 
come  to  his  aid ;  but  the  letter  was  intercepted  by  Cardinal 
Orsini.  These  new  injuries  on  the  part  of  the  Cardinal, 
greatly  favored  by  him,  and  generously  received  at  Anagni, 
pierced  his  heart,  and  convinced  him  that  he  plotted  his 
death.  He  was  so  grieved  thereby,  that  he  was  at  the 
point  of  death.  A  horrible  fact,  according  to  Ferretus, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  389 

made  memorable  the  last  moments  of  Pope  Boniface,  who 
died,  says  this  historian,  in  the  transports  of  despair.  He 
narrates  that  this  great  Pontiff,  having  become  mad  by  a 
dose  of  poison  administered  to  him,  and  having  sent  away 
his  servant  John  Campano,  shut  himself  up  alone  in  his 
room,  gnawed  his  staff,  dashed  his  head  against  the  wall, 
so  as  to  imbrue  his  gray  hairs  with  blood,  and  then 
strangled  himself  with  the  bedclothes,  calling  on  Beelze- 
bub. When  we  consider  that  Boniface  had  reached  an 
extreme  old  age,  and  was  altogether  broken  by  misfortune ; 
that  being  shut  up  alone  in  his  room,  there  were  not  wit- 
nesses to  bring  to  Ferretus  those  disgusting  details;  and 
that  the  death  of  this  magnanimous  Pope  is  quite  differ- 
ently narrated  by  eye-witnesses,  we  do  not  know  for  what 
sort  of  readers  Sismondi  believed  he  was  writing,  when 
he  spoiled  his  history  with  the  fables  of  Ferretus.23  It  is 
beyond  doubt  that  Boniface  died  a  peaceful  death  in  the 
Vatican  Palace.  The  testimony  of  Cardinal  Stephanes- 
chi,  who  was  present,  and  the  process  afterwards  drawn  up 
on  the  acts  of  this  Pontiff,  admit  of  no  doubt.24  Eight 
cardinals  and  other  honorable  personages  surrounded  the 
bed  of  the  dying  Pope.  In  a  feeble  voice  he  made  to  them 
a  profession  of  faith  according  to  the  custom  of  his  pre- 
decessors, affirming  that  he  had  always  lived  in  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  in  it  he  wished  to  die.  Then  fortified 
by  the  Holy  Viaticum,  on  the  7th  of  October,  thirty-five 
days  after  his  imprisonment  at  Anagni  he  surrendered  to 
God  that  soul  wearied  after  the  long  combat  it  endured  for 
the  rights  of  the  Church,  saddened  by  the  wickedness  of 
man,  but  unconquered,  and  unsullied  in  its  grandeur. 
His  body  was  borne  to  the  tomb,  which  he  while  living  had 
prepared  in  the  Vatican  Basilica,  near  to  the  altar  of  St. 
Andrew.  His  obsequies  were  Papal.  Among  the  many 
illustrious  personages  who  were  present  was  seen  Charles 
II  of  Naples.  He  had  come  too  late  to  succor  the  besieged 
Pope  while  living,  but  opportunely  to  assist  at  the  honors 

"History  of  the  Italian  Republics. 

"* "  Lecto  prostratus  anhelus 

Procubuit,  fassusque  fidem,  curamque  professus 

Romanae  Ecclesiae,  Christo  tune  redditur  almus 

Spiritus,  et  saevi  nescit  jam  judicis  iram, 

Sed  mitem  placidamque  patris  cui  credere  fas  est." 


390  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

shown  after  death.  In  fact  when  we  reflect  that  Heaven 
had  punished  the  too  great  human  confidence  of  the  Popes 
in  the  French  house  of  Anjou  by  the  ingratitude  and  secret 
plots  of  this  family,  we  understand  how  necessary  it  was 
that  a  prince  of  Anjou  should  bear  to  the  sepulchre  Popo 
Boniface,  in  whose  breast,  as  in  a  sanctuary  of  apostolic 
stability,  the  civil  Roman  Pontificate  was  buried.  So 
Charles  came  rather  to  the  funeral  honors  of  that  Ponti- 
ficate, than  to  those  of  the  Pontiff.25 

During  the  life  of  princes,  fear  restrains  the  opinion  of 
people.  But  when  they  are  laid  away  in  the  tomb,  the 
doors  of  their  palaces  being  open  to  the  people  permit 
them  to  examine  and  judge  their  actions.  Now  liberty  at 
this  time  too  unrestrained  compromises  the  truth.  For 
we  know  that  sovereigns  on  their  departure  from  this 
world  leave  in  the  custody  of  their  court  a  secret  or  mys- 
tery which  reveals  itself  only  to  the  severe  and  patient 
investigation  of  history.  Hence  this  was  the  cause  of  so 
many  and  unrestrained  judgments  at  the  tomb  of  Boni- 
face. The  resistance  with  which  he  opposed  all  manner 
of  injustices,  ceasing  at  his  death,  opened  a  way  to  resent- 
ment which  furiously  assailed  his  memory  and  oppressed 
it.  The  chroniclers  of  the  time  were  not  historians;  their 
tendencies  being  in  favor  of  either  the  Guelph  or  Ghibel- 
line  party,  they  portrayed  the  actions  of  this  Pontiff  ac- 
cording to  their  own  point  of  view,  and  according  as  pub- 
lic rumor  expressed  them,  everyone  knows  transforms 
everything  when  it  is  allowed  to  run  unchecked.  Nor 
were  there  philosophers,  strong  enough  to  arrest  and  grasp 
with  the  arms  of  criticism,  the  truth  which  was  distorted. 
Philip  the  Fair  in  France,  the  Colonnas  in  Italy,  the  proud 
Roman  patriciate,  and  all  those  who  had  experienced  the 
strong  temperament  of  Boniface  in  anger,  allowed  the 
stone  of  the  sepulchre  to  be  lowered  upon  the  head,  and 
upon  this  they  did  not  raise  a  complaint,  but  a  cry  of  exe- 
cration and  vengeance. 

They  were  ashamed  of  their  acts  of  violence  by  the  aid 
of  which  they  shortened  the  life  of  this  Pontiff,  and  they 
found  it  necessary  to  dishonor  his  memory  in  order  to  ex- 
culpate themselves,  and  give  to  their  wickedness  an  ap- 

K  Here  there  is  no  question  of  the  spiritual  Pontificate,  which  is  per- 
petual like  the  Church. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  39! 

pearance  of  a  just  defense.  During  all  his  Pontificate 
Boniface  aimed  at  nothing  else  but  to  preserve  intact  the 
rights  of  the  Church  not  only  in  the  sanctuary,  but  also 
in  the  heart  of  civil  society  itself,  over  the  temporal  des- 
tinies of  which  he  could  no  more  cease  to  preside  than  the 
soul  over  the  purely  material  functions  of  the  body. 
Hence  for  this  reason  he  was  a  most  valiant  defender  of 
her  interior  and  exterior  rights,  and  every  prince  who 
overstepped  his  bounds  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church,  or  beyond  his  own  authority,  always  found  Boni- 
face standing  before  him  as  a  rock  to  impede  his  progress. 
For  this  reason  he  was  a  zealous  preserver  of  the  sacred 
patrimonies,  and  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church;  he 
was  an  indefatigable  peacemaker;  vigilant  in  preventing 
quarrels,  and  in  ending  them  by  agreements,  in  which  he 
offered  himself  as  mediator  in  his  quality  of  pastor  and 
universal  father,  rather  than  by  war  which  wastes  the 
goods  and  the  blood  of  the  people.  He  was  an  inexorable 
reformer  of  princes  who  founded  their  perversity  on  the 
weakness  of  their  subjects.  The  proof  of  our  assertion  is 
that  some  kings,  and  some  cities  trusted  spontaneously  to 
his  judgment  the  settlement  of  their  differences,  and  his 
decisions  were  always  models  of  justice.  No  other  pope 
showed  such  zeal  as  Boniface  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel  among  barbarous  and  distant  nations;  he  enriched 
churches,  especially  the  Vatican  and  Lateran  basilicas; 
he  founded  new  academies,  assigning  them  revenues;  he 
waged  wars  to  preserve  Sicily,  at  that  time  a  patrimony 
of  the  Church.  Now  to  bring  all  these  great  affairs  to  a 
successful  issue  there  was  needed  large  pecuniary  re- 
sources. As  his  life  was  full  and  entirely  composed  of 
these  honorable  actions,  he  was  always  open  to  contradic- 
tions, and  those  who  would  wish  to  attack  him,  would 
have  to  find  in  these  actions  themselves  the  arms  with 
which  to  strike  him.  And  hence  besides  his  simoniacal  in- 
trusion into  the  Papacy,  his  assassination  of  St.  Peter 
Celestine,  his  zeal  for  the  rights  of  the  Church  was  called 
thirst  for  empire ;  his  punishment  of  those  whom  he  wished 
to  despoil  was  called  tyranny;  his  apostolic  firmness  was 
foolish  pride;  his  opposition  to  the  excesses  of  Philip,  a 
passion  for  a  universal  monarchy,  and  the  spirit  of  pru- 
dence which  he  displayed  in  gathering  riches,  gross  avar- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

jce.  But  Boniface  appears  under  far  different  colors  from 
,the  facts  in  this  book  which  we  have  dedicated  to  him, 
and  the  moral  portrait  which  wre  have  traced  here  is  ad- 
mirably confirmed  by  some  contemporaneous  historians 
and  especially  by  Villani. 

Boniface  was  a  man  most  remarkable  in  his  time  for 
magnanimity;  and  as  the  office  which  he  filled  was  great, 
he  administered  it  so  attentively  and  so  energetically,  that 
he  identified  himself  with  it.  And  as  the  estimate  which 
he  had  of  this  ministry  did  not  allow  him  to  endure  words 
or  deeds  against  it,  so  possession  of  it  aroused  within  him 
every  human  passion  to  resist  these  attacks.  For  this 
reason  equal  to  every  other  Pope  in  the  greatness  of  his 
conception  of  the  Koman  Pontificate,  he  surpassed  them 
all  by  the  ardor  with  which  he  displayed  his  power. 
Knowing  that  the  Pontifical  edifice  is  not  supported  by 
material  means  like  the  thrones  of  other  princes,  he  raised 
from  the  crowd,  for  the  sake  of  using  them,  those  whose 
mental  acumen  and  learning  brought  them  to  his  notice, 
and  he  loaded  them  with  favors  and  riches  to  attach  them 
to  him.  The  people  were  accustomed  to  distinguish  power 
by  the  splendor  of  its  forms;  he  presented  himself  to  them 
in  the  glitter  of  worldly  pomp;  and  as  he  was  superior  to 
kings  by  reason  of  his  double  power  direct  and  indirect  so 
he  wished  to  surpass  them  in  the  outward  signs  of  au- 
thority. As  his  views  were  so  were  his  actions.  In  the 
times  when  he  lived  princes  were  ashamed  of  the  unaf- 
fected piety  of  their  infancy  and  their  ancient  inability  to 
govern  the  people,  so  that  whereas  in  former  times  they 
laid  even  their  crown  on  the  altar  of  St.  Peter,  they  with- 
drew it  in  these  times  with  great  violence,  and  in  with- 
drawing it  they  shook  the  foundations  of  the  Church.  It 
was  by  reason  of  this  that  Boniface  appeared  angry  and 
proud ;  that  his  voice  resembled  that  of  a  roaring  lion ;  and 
that  his  shoulders  were  as  of  bronze  to  sustain  the  totter- 
ing edifice  in  guard  of  which  he  had  been  placed.  Won- 
derful in  his  quickness  of  perception,  in  comparing  and  in 
judging  momentous  affairs;  very  clever  and  prudent  in 
the  way  of  conducting  them,  he  employed,  in  their  order, 
and  with  an  unbending  spirit,  the  means  capable  of  assur- 
ing success.  Most  courageous  against  others,  he  was  not 
weak  regarding  himself;  so  that  during  the  impulse  of 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  393 

passion  and  anger,  his  heart  not  only  remained  unmoved 
but  even  opened  itself  to  generosity,  of  which  the  pardons 
at  Anagni  are  of  proof.  Profoundly  versed  in  the  science 
of  law  both  human  and  divine,  he  interpreted  them  with 
eloquence  in  his  discourses,  with  elegance  in  his  writings, 
and  he  defended  them  with  a  courage  superior  to  all.  His 
haughty  and  disdainful  nature,  his  many  and  important 
occupations,  the  vigilance  and  hatred  of  his  enemies  had 
humanely  rendered  him  chaste,  while  religion  made  him 
pure.  He  celebrated  mass  regularly  and  with  great  piety ; 
and  the  tremendous  sanctity  of  the  sacrifice  made  him  shed 
abundant  tears ; 26  it  preserved  him  from  those  stains  with 
which  his  enemies  in  accusing  him  dishonored  rather  them- 
selves than  him.  His  tall  figure  corresponded  to  his 
grandeur  of  soul;  his  limbs  were  robust  and  in  perfect 
harmony;  and  his  every  movement  and  pose  revealed  a 
man  made  for  the  throne.  His  forehead  was  high  and 
broad;  his  cheeks  full,  and  the  interior  majesty  of  his 
soul  disclosed  itself  in  the  calm  severity  of  his  gaze,  and 
his  countenance.  In  a  word,  from  qualities  of  both  mind 
and  body  he  was  what  Petrarch  judged  him  to  be :  "  The 
wonder  of  the  world."  2T 

The  common  people  are  credulous;  the  strange  and  the 
impossible  arouse  their  eager  curiosity.  Many  perhaps 
believed  on  the  authority  of  Ferretus  that  the  proud  Pon- 
tiff lay  in  his  sepulchre  with  gnawed  wrists  and  a  frac- 
tured skull ;  and  perhaps  no  one  could  approach  that  sepul- 
chre without  a  certain  feeling  of  horror,  on  thinking  that 
it  enclosed  so  much  pride  and  despair. 

Three  hundred  and  two  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
death  of  Boniface,  when  Paul  V  captivated  by  the  gigan- 
tic project  which  Pope  Julius  II  had  devised,  of  raising  a 
basilica  over  the  tomb  of  the  Apostles,  entered  upon  the 
execution  of  it.  We  could  pardon  Julius  for  destroying 
an  ancient  and  venerable  church  through  love  of  the  great ; 
he  had  engaged  Bramante  and  Michelangelo  to  make 
his  thought  magnificent.  But  Paul  would  ever  be  held 
inexcusable  if  he  had  taken  the  initiative,  because  Bernini 
and  Borromini  w^ere  not  the  men  to  reproduce,  by  the 
power  of  genius,  that  mysterious  beauty  which  ever  sits 

M  Justinian,  in  Chron.  Riccar.  Ab.  S.  Just  in  Reg.  S.  Ben.  See  Docu- 
ment 2  R.  "  De  otio  Religiosorum. 


394  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

as  queen  over  the  rugged  works  of  our  ancestors.  But  the 
impetuous  de  la  Rovere  had  already  demolished  a  great 
part  of  the  ancient  Basilica  to  build  that  striking  cupola, 
the  sight  of  which  would  serve  to  frighten  the  barbarians 
whom  he  wished  to  drive  out  of  Italy ;  and  so  Paul  V  was 
forced  to  complete  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  part  so 
that  the  new  would  not  be  left  unfinished.  Wherefore  in 
the  first  year  of  his  Pontificate  on  the  26th  of  September, 
Paul  after  having  obtained  in  a  consistory  the  advice  of 
the  Cardinals  and  skilled  architects,  resolved  to  demolish 
that  which  remained  of  the  ancient  basilica.  We  do  not 
know  whether  a  certain  remorse  of  conscience  for  that  ir- 
reverent violence  to  ancient  walls  determined  the  archi- 
tects to  say  that  there  existed  a  deviation  of  five  palms 
between  the  top  and  the  base  of  the  walls,  that  the  timbers 
had  rotted,  and  that  the  roof  and  the  entire  edifice  were 
threatened  with  ruin ;  or  whether  the  danger  was  real  and 
certain.  However,  it  is  a  fact  that  on  the  28th  of  the  same 
month  Cardinal  Pallotta,  archpriest  of  St.  Peter's  ordered 
all  the  altars  in  the  great  nave  of  the  Basilica  to  be  re- 
moved. These  works  of  removal,  always  detrimental, 
brought  the  workmen  to  the  chapel  of  the  Gaetani  family. 
The  altar  was  surmounted  by  a  Gothic  tabernacle  of  ex- 
quisite design  which  Boniface  had  ordered  made:  (cus- 
'pidum  operis  Germanici) ;  the  forms  were  sharp  and  se- 
vere, and  the  top  was  in  shape  like  an  arrow.  The  chapel 
itself  had  been  built  by  Boniface  VIII  after  the  design  of 
the  architect  Arnolpho,  who  left  his  name  inscribed  in  it. 
A  remarkable  picture  in  mosaic  by  Charles  Conti  contri- 
buted to  its  ornamentation,  in  which  was  seen,  in  those 
holy  forms  and  styles  now  a  long  time  lost,  the  blessed 
Virgin,  at  one  side  of  whom  was  St.  Peter,  presenting 
Boniface  to  her,28  and  at  the  other  St.  Paul  with  St. 
Boniface.  The  entire  work  was  roughly  carried  away  and 
afterwards  lost.  The  tomb  was  placed  on  the  wall  in  such 
a  way  as  to  be  always  visible  to  the  priest  who  celebrated. 
It  was  of  marble  of  the  most  unpretending  kind,  such  as  it 
is  still  seen  in  the  Vatican  Basilica.  This  mausoleum  hav- 
ing been  built  during  the  life  of  Boniface,  we  consider  it 
right  to  observe  that  in  it  there  is  found  no  indication  of 

28  The  Pontiff  was  probably  kneeling,   and  of  smaller   proportions,   ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  times. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  395 

an  immoderate  love  of  display.  It  is  a  simple  sarcophagus 
on  which  reposes  the  statue  of  the  Pontiff  in  a  sleeping 
attitude,  and  clothed  in  the  priestly  vestments ;  the  head  is 
covered  by  the  tiara,  and  the  hands  are  joined  in  the  form 
of  a  cross  and  rest  on  the  lower  part  of  the  stomach.  Two 
cushions  slightly  elevate  his  head ;  a  coverlet  placed  under 
the  prostrate  figure  and  displaying  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 
Gaetani  family,  falls  in  natural  and  graceful  folds  over 
the  face  of  the  monument.  Who  would  not  have  imagined 
to  find  on  that  sepulchre  signs  and  emblems  indicating 
the  boundless  ambition  and  pride  of  him  whose  remains 
lay  within?  As  soon  as  the  despoilers  reached  the  tomb, 
they  stopped,  as  they  wished  the  Gaetani  family  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  opening.  The  three  Gaetani  brothers,  Anthony, 
Archbishop  of  Capua,  Boniface,  Bishop  of  Cessano,  and 
Peter,  duke  of  Sermoneta,  were  present  with  all  the  can- 
ons of  the  Basilica  and  other  prelates.  The  cover  having 
been  raised  a  wooden  coffin  was  found  within  which  con- 
tained the  bones  of  the  Pontiff,  and  this  was  opened  on 
October  26th,  the  anniversary  of  his  death.  All  present 
were  struck  with  wonder  at  seeing  how  well  preserved  the 
corpse  was,  and  how  lifelike  and  sound  the  flesh  looked. 
The  head  was  not  denuded  of  skin,  the  upper  and  lower 
membranes  of  the  eyelids  and  the  membranes  of  ears 
were  intact ;  the  cheeks  were  full ;  and  with  the  exception 
of  two  teeth  lost  during  life  all  the  other  teeth  were  firmly 
set  in  the  gums ;  the  nose  and  the  lips  alone  showed  marks 
of  decay.  The  countenance  was  severe.  His  body  was 
seven  palms  and  three  quarters  in  length;  his  hands  were 
long  and  so  beautiful,  "  as  to  fill  with  admiration  all  who 
saw  them,"  the  nails  on  them  had  grown;  and  from  the 
nerves  and  the  color  of  the  veins,  one  would  believe  them 
full  of  life,  and  that  blood  still  circulated  through  them. 
All  the  vestments  were  entire  and  well  preserved.  The 
border  of  the  alb,  representing  different  subjects  taken 
from  Holy  Writ,  was  composed  of  a  rich  and  wonderful 
embroidery  in  silk  and  gold.  Such  was  the  state  of  the 
body  of  Boniface.  We  have  entered  upon  these  details,  not 
because  we  considered  marvellous  the  perfect  preserva- 
tion of  the  corpse  of  Boniface ;  for  that  could  happen  either 
by  the  body  not  being  decomposed  and  the  humors  viti- 
ated by  a  long  illness,  and  by  a  perfect  exclusion  from  the 


396 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 


tomb  of  the  air,  the  principal  cause  of  putrefaction.  But 
we  wished  to  show  by  the  integrity  of  the  skull  and  the 
fingers,  by  the  calm  pose  of  the  entire  corpse,  how  very 
calm  also  had  been  the  departure  of  the  soul  which  once 
vivified  it. 

Men  ordinarily  are  gracious  to  tombs ;  their  hatred  ends 
there  and  is  appeased,  and  vengeance  is  disarmed;  be- 
cause those  who  rest  there  become  something  sacred.  But 
such  were  not  the  hatred  and  vengeance  of  Philip  the  Fair. 
He  had  been  struck  by  a  spiritual  sword,  not  of  a  Gaetani, 
but  of  a  Sovereign  Pontiff,  who  although  dead,  had  left  as 
a  heritage  to  his  successors,  the  duty  of  punishing,  as  an 
example  to  others,  the  French  prince,  a  violator  of  the 
sacred  rights  of  the  Church,  and  a  brutal  persecutor  of  her 
head.  The  thundering  voice  of  Boniface  was  silent,  but 
the  scandal  of  Anagni  cried  for  vengeance,  and  Philip 
wished  to  stifle  that  cry.  So  after  having  cast  upon  the 
agents  of  his  fury  the  culpability,  from  which  they  were 
to  be  purified  by  some  spiritual  penance,  he  intended  to 
present  himself  before  the  new  Pope  and  the  council,  not 
as  guilty  and  deserving  of  condemnation,  but  as  a  man 
injured  in  his  honor  and  in  his  rights,  to  whom  a  just 
reparation  was  due.  Not  only  did  he  hope  to  succeed  in 
his  purpose,  but  he  believed  it  certain  upon  the  arrival  of 
the  messengers  coming  in  all  haste  to  apprise  him  of  the 
death  of  Boniface.  This  information  filled  him  with  joy, 
and  for  the  time  to  come  unopposed,  he  promised  himself 
a  most  brilliant  future.  But  if  the  rumor  then  current  is 
not  false,  a  certain  Bishop  of  Morienne  met  in  the  Alps 
the  messenger  bringing  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Boniface 
and  by  a  sudden  and  divine  inspiration  broke  forth  into 
cries;  "Alas!  Philip  will  rejoice  greatly  over  this  infor- 
"  mation,  but  his  joy  will  be  followed  by  a  great  cause  for 
"  sorrow.  Ah !  that  judgment  will  fall  on  his  head  and 
"  that  of  his  children."  If  the  Bishop  whether  humanly 
or  supernaturally  spoke  the  truth  in  those  words,  the 
course  of  this  history  will  prove.29 

The  nine  days  of  mourning  having  passed,  the  Cardinals 
assembled  for  the  election  of  a  new  Pope.  Still  terrified 
by  the  misfortune  of  Boniface,  they  felt  their  spirits  were 
too  feeble  to  hold  the  reins  of  government  which  Boniface 

89  John  Villani,  Book  8,  c.  64. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  397 

had  managed  with  so  much  vigor;  their  hearts  palpitated 
between  the  apostolic  resolution  of  continuing  the  work 
of  the  magnanimous  deceased,  and  the  arguments  of  pru- 
dence, which  counselled  peaceful  concessions.  By  firm- 
ness one  courted  martyrdom ;  by  concessions  a  not  distant 
invasion,,  and  the  enslavement  of  the  entire  Catholic 
priesthood  would  ensue.  If,  through  the  imperfections 
and  weakness  of  humanity,  ambitions  for  the  tiara  were 
aroused  in  that  assembly,  they  should  have  been  curbed 
by  the  thought  that  he  who  would  be  chosen  to  direct  the 
bark  of  Peter,  should  descend  ignominiously  from  the 
heights  of  the  pontifical  dignity  where  Boniface  had 
courageously  held  it,  that  is  to  say,  either  make  criminal 
arrangements  with  Philip,  or  suffer  the  violence  of  some 
other  Nogaret.  After  one  day  of  conclave,  all  the  suf- 
frages united  on  Cardinal  Nicholas  Boccasini,  Bishop  of 
Ostia,  a  religious  of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic,  who  was  of 
humble  extraction,  of  pure  morals,  and  of  a  sweet  dispo- 
sition. We  shall  not  speak  at  length  of  his  pontificate, 
nor  of  the  one  that  followed,  but  we  shall  narrate  only 
those  facts  which  have  a  bearing  on  the  affairs  of  Boni- 
face. And  here  we  are  forced  to  remark  to  the  reader 
that  we  enter  upon  an  epoch  far  different  from  the  ancient 
times,  and  from  those  which  have  been  subject  of  our 
narration.  The  tragedy  of  Boniface  put  an  end  to  that 
glorious  era  of  the  Papacy.  Therefore  such  kings  as 
Henry,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  Manfred  and  Philip  the 
Fair  will  not  be  seen  again;  princes  restrained  by  the 
severity  of  command,  but  managed  by  arrangements 
which  contain  a  certain  equality  of  power.  The  Papacy, 
surrounded  and  defended  by  the  moral  power  of  the  priest- 
hood, which  at  first  had  solemnly  opposed  the  laws,  now 
negotiates  by  treaties,  which  prudence  dictates.  It  did 
not  fear  martyrdom  but  the  inefficacy  of  the  spiritual 
arms  despised  by  the  people,  as  if  Christ  in  placing  them 
in  the  hands  of  his  Vicars,  had  not  thought  to  temper 
them  so  as  not  to  render  them  useless  in  the  lasting  de- 
fence of  the  Church.  However,  in  view  of  the  prosperous 
situation  in  which  the  policies  of  government  have  placed 
the  rights  and  the  liberty  of  the  Church,  one  can  easily 
judge  whether  prudence  has  succeeded  better  than  force. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  Benedict  was  to  raise  his  voice 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

against  those  who  pillaged  the  treasury  of  Boniface,  and 
to  threaten  them  with  censures.  He  entrusted  his  chap- 
lain, Bernard  Riardi,  with  the  difficult  mission  of  recov- 
ering it.  The  bells  were  tolled,  the  candles  were  lighted, 
anathemas  were  hurled;  but  not  one  of  the  plunderers 
restored  the  booty.30  The  cause  of  the  scandals  con- 
tinued; Nogaret  still  hovered  around  the  environs  of 
Anagni,  his  heart  full  of  anger,  because  of  the  disgrace- 
ful expulsion  of  the  French  from  that  town.  As  soon  as 
he  heard  of  the  death  of  Boniface,  he  sought  Rinaldo  of 
Supino,  in  the  town  of  Ferentino,  to  renew  his  courage 
for  new  crimes,  offering  him  men,  money  and  royal  favors. 
He  remembered  the  events  of  Anagni,  and  he  resolved 
at  any  cost  on  revenge.31  In  the  meantime  another  mes- 
senger of  Philip,  Peter  of  Peredo,  a  prior,  being  sent  into 
Italy  to  arouse  the  people  against  Boniface  and  fill  Rome 
with  the  usual  complaints  against  him,  had  arrived  in 
the  city  a  day  before  the  death  of  the  Pope.  Hardly  was 
Benedict  seated  on  the  Pontifical  throne,  than  Peredo  be- 
gan to  complain,  in  his  presence  and  before  the  Cardinals, 
of  the  injury  which  the  dead  Pope  had  done  to  the  Church. 
He  related  to  the  new  Pope  all  that  had  passed  in  the 
States  general ;  he  renewed  the  appeals  to  the  council  and 
to  the  Pope;  he  entreated  him  to  convoke  a  council  at 
Lyons,  or  in  any  other  place  not  dangerous  to  the  French ; 
and  he  concluded  by  execrating  the  memory  of  Boniface. 
The  envoy  did  not  have  credential  letters;  and  for  this 
reason  Benedict  replied  that  he  could  not  deliberate  on 
the  affairs  in  consistory,  and  he  also  made  Nogaret  leave 
Italy,  with  the  promise  of  pacifying  and  reconciling 
France  with  the  Roman  Church. 

Nogaret  returned  to  France  opportunely  to  aid  Philip 
by  his  counsel,  of  which  he  was  in  great  need.  It  was  not 
prudent  to  wait  until  Benedict  notified  the  King,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  of  his  elevation  to  the  Pontificate  through 
the  medium  of  a  Nuncio.  For  in  case  this  Nuncio  did  not 
come,  Philip  being  excommunicated,  Benedict  would  thus 
show  clearly  that  he  confirmed  the  Bulls  of  Boniface.  It 
was  of  no  value  to  await  the  coming  of  any  Legate  bear- 
ing arrangements,  because  it  could  not  be  foreseen  with 

"oRaynaldus,  no.  37.  gl  Process,  p.  174  apud  Baillet,  p.  233. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  399 

what  instructions  he  would  be  charged  by  Benedict;  and 
supposing  that  Philip  did  not  accept  them,  he  would  be 
forced  to  prolong  the  hostility  against  the  new  Pope  also, 
from  whom  he  expected  benign  concessions.  Therefore, 
with  the  advice  of  Nogaret  he  anticipated  Benedict  by 
sending  to  him  three  ambassadors,  Berardo,  lord  of  Mer- 
cueil,  William  Plasian,  lord  of  Vezenobre,  and  Peter  of 
Bellepercho,  a  canon  of  Chartres,  and  a  most  renowned 
lawyer.  They  had  the  most  extensive  power  to  conclude 
a  peace  with  the  Pope,  and  a  procuration  from  Philip  to 
receive  absolution  from  the  censures  imposed  on  the  King, 
and  the  kingdom  of  France.  Nogaret  was  to  accompany 
them,  but  he  could  not  take  part  in  the  affair  of  the  cen- 
sures, because  he  had  been  personally  struck  by  the 
anathema  of  Boniface.  But,  either  being  afraid  of  the 
relatives  of  Boniface,  and  of  the  impression  which  the 
sight  of  him  wrould  produce  on  the  Pontiff,  or  because  his 
presence  was  useful  to  the  prince,  he  remained  in  France, 
where  he  occupied  himself  in  preparing  the  particulars 
of  the  suit  that  was  to  be  instituted  against  the  memory 
of  Boniface.32  The  ambassadors  departed;  the  French 
people  followed  them  with  these  acclamations :  "  The 
"  liberty  of  their  country  consisted  in  acknowledging  in 
"  the  temporal  matters  no  one  superior  to  the  king,  ex- 
"  cept  God.  Boniface  should  be  declared  a  heretic,  for 
"having  maintained  the  contrary;  this  should  be  sup- 
"mitted  to  a  council  or  the  new  Pope;  and  that  his  con- 
"  demnation  would  justify  France  in  the  eyes  of  poster- 
"  ity."  In  the  meanwhile  the  French  understood  how 
advantageous  it  was  to  them  that  Philip  had  no  one  but 
God  above  him,  when  they  saw  what  respect  he  had  for 
their  liberty.  Benedict  found  himself  navigating  in  diffi- 
cult waters.  He  had  been  one  of  the  Cardinals  faithful  to 
Boniface;  the  memory  of  that  terrible  night  at  Anagni 
ever  present  in  his  mind,  reminded  him  that  it  would  cost 
Philip  and  his  ministers  very  little  to  renew  the  horrible 
acts  of  violence  of  which  he  had  been  a  witness.  Guided 
either  by  these  fears  or  by  prudence,  he  resolved  to  come 
to  a  peaceful  settlement  with  Philip.  But  in  order  that 
by  this  he  would  not  be  considered  as  wanting  in  courage, 

"Process,  p.  174  apud.  Baillet,  page  239. 


400  HISTORY   OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

and  his  indulgence  would  not  have  the  appearance  of 
constraint,  he  sent  to  Philip  the  absolution  from  the  ex- 
communication, before  the  arrival  of  the  ambassadors, 
and  before  any  previous  request  of  this  prince.  An  act, 
which  the  fear  of  something  worse  counselled,  assumed 
thus  the  appearance  of  generosity.  On  April  2nd  he  pub- 
lished two  documents,  one  for  the  perpetual  memorial  of 
the  thing,  and  the  other  addressed  to  Philip,  by  which  he 
removed  the  censures  against  Philip  and  the  church  in 
France,  and  "  this  to  avoid  scandal,  because  it  is  neces- 
"  sary  to  relax  a  little  of  the  rigor  in  the  interest  of  the 
"  multitude.  He  revoked  all  the  other  acts  of  his  pre- 
decessor against  Philip,  he  accorded  new  privileges;  but 
always  excluded  formally  from  the  general  favor  William 
de  Nogaret,  whose  absolution  "  we  reserve  to  ourselves, 
and  to  the  Apostolic  See."  Benedict  also  wished,  in  order 
to  soften  Philip,  to  modify  the  constitution  "  Clericis 
laicos,"  by  tempering  the  penalties.  It  condemned 
solemnly,  not  only  those  who  without  permission  of  the 
Holy  See,  exacted  subsidies  from  the  clergy,  but  also  those 
who,  on  request,  consented  to  these  exactions,  and  to  the 
collection  of  tithes,  and  other  taxes.  Benedict  released 
these  latter  from  all  penalty. 

The  ambassadors  not  having  arrived  as  yet  at  Rome, 
these  absolutions  and  pardons  were  received  in  the  name 
of  the  King,  but  without  deputation  by  William  Chaste- 
nay  and  Hugh  de  Celles,  two  of  the  numerous  agents 
whom  Philip  kept  in  Italy  in  order  to  press  the  affair  of 
the  council,  to  which  he  wished  to  appeal.  Seeing  that 
everything  was  progressing  wonderfully  well,  they  took 
with  them  a  notary  of  Rome;  and  six  days  after  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Bull  of  pardon,  they  went  to  see  different 
Cardinals  successively,  in  order  to  prevail  upon  them  to 
enter  into  the  views  of  the  King  regarding  a  Council. 
Five  of  the  ten  there  declared  that  they  were  in  favor  of 
calling  a  council,  whereas  the  other  five  would  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  Pope.  But  Benedict  would  not  hear  of  a 
Council  and  appeals.  He  had  sacrificed  even  too  much 
Tor  peace.33 

The  royal  envoys  arrived  bearing  a  letter  from  Philip 

33  Baillet,  243,  243. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  401 

to  the  Pope.  It  was  full  of  congratulations  on  his  eleva- 
tion to  the  Papacy;  of  hopes;  of  abuse  against  his  pre- 
decessor; then  followed  excessive  and  hypocritical  praise 
of  Benedict.  He  called  him  a  man  of  brilliant  qualities, 
a  mirror  of  virtue,  a  model  of  sanctity,  a  man  after  his 
own  heart,  who  did  not  seek  his  own  glory,  but  only  that 
of  God,  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  the  prosperity  of 
Christianity  in  the  Holy  Land.  He  recommended  himself 
and  the  whole  Gallican  church  to  his  Holiness.  We  have 
said  that  these  praises  were  hypocritical;  because  if  the 
hopes  failed  in  their  intent,  Benedict  would  be  another 
Boniface  to  him.  Hypocrisy  is  always  the  most  poison- 
ous and  most  dangerous  weapon  of  usurpers.34  Benedict 
replied  in  most  polite  terms,  striving  to  bring  back  by 
gentleness  this  prince,  against  whom  all  rigorous  meas- 
ures had  failed.  Passing  over  in  silence  Boniface  and  the 
excommunication  emanating  from  him,  he  said :  "  Judge 
"  of  our  tenderness  in  releasing  you  from  all  censures  be- 
"  fore  you  came  or  sent  to  ask  it ; 35  we  have  welcomed 
"  with  joy  and  benevolence  your  envoys  and  your  letters. 
"  And  far  from  repenting  of  our  indulgence,  we  feel  it  a 
"  duty  as  Vicar  of  that  good  Shepherd,  who  having  left 
"in  the  desert  the  ninety-nine  sheep,  goes  to  seek  the  one 
"  hundredth,  and  after  having  found  it  places  it  joyfully 
"  on  his  shoulders,  in  order  to  return  it  to  the  fold."  And 
he  concludes  by  recalling  the  example  of  Joas,  King  of 
Juda,  who  reigned  gloriously  and  practised  virtue  as  long 
as  he  followed  the  counsels  of  the  high-priest  Joad,  but 
when  he  departed  from  them  he  fell  into  disgrace  and  was 
finally  assassinated  by  his  own  servants.  "  Listen  to  your 
father,"  said  he,  "  in  order  that  God  may  strengthen  your 
"  kingdom  and  render  it  glorious."  But  Boniface  had 
used  similar  language  before  he  had  recourse  to  rigor;  it 
caused  a  violent  death  to  this  Pontiff  and  we  shall  see 
what  kind  of  death  it  procured  for  Benedict.  Any  one 
can  notice  that,  in  all  these  acts,  the  prudent  Pontiff,  in 
pardoning  the  King  of  France,  did  not  condemn  Boniface. 
On  the  contrary  the  pardon  granted  to  Philip  the  Fair 
and  to  France,  supposes  their  revolt  against  the  Apostolic 

**Raynaldus,  1304,  8. 

85 "  Tibi   absent!   et   non   petenti."-*- Pagi   Brev.   Pont.   Horn.    Tom.   Ill, 
p.  553. 


402  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

See,  and  the  justice  of  the  chastisements  by  which  they 
had  been  punished.  He  called  Philip  an  illustrious,  a 
noble,  a  distinguished,  but  always  a  lost  and  a  stray 
sheep.36 

The  Colonnas  did  not  lose  time;  they  exerted  them- 
selves greatly,  in  order  to  turn  to  their  advantage  such 
indulgent  dispositions.  The  good  Pontiff,  who  was  clem- 
ency itself,  released  them  from  the  enormous  weight  of 
excommunications,  suspensions,  and  interdicts  which  they 
had  deserved ; 37  allowed  them  to  return  home,  extending 
his  indulgence  so  far  as  to  restore  them  to  their  family 
privileges,  and  their  civil  rights.  But  he  refused  to  re- 
store to  the  two  Cardinals  the  hat  and  the  ecclesiastical 
benefices;  and  forbade  the  rebuilding  of  the  fortifications 
of  Palestrina.  By  these  restrictions  he  acknowledged  the 
Colonnas  to  have  been  truly  seditious,  and  men  dangerous 
to  the  state  and  Church.38  With  these  favors  the  Colon- 
nas showed  themselves  apparently  satisfied  yet  the  two 
deposed  Cardinals  did  not  cease  their  agitations.  They 
addressed  to  Philip,  their  friend,  a  memorial,  in  which 
they  entreated  him  to  continue  his  former  protection  to 
them,  to  unite  his  efforts  to  theirs,  in  order  to  finish  the 
proceedings  against  Boniface.  "  The  cause  of  a  Cardinal," 
they  remarked,  "  could  be  tried  only  in  an  Ecumenical 
"  Council.  Leaving  to  the  Pope  the  power  to  dispose  and 
"  banish  a  cardinal,  is  to  expose  to  ruin  the  government 
"  of  the  Church.  The  cardinals  are  a  salutary  counter- 
"  pose  to  the  Papal  power.  They  form  the  counsel  of  the 
"  Pope,  they  sit  in  judgment  with  him,  and  are  members 
"  of  the  same  body.  It  is  a  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of 
"  Jesus  Christ  to  deprive  the  cardinals  of  the  right  and 
"  liberty  of  opposition  to  the  Pope,  in  cases  where  it  is 
"  necessary  to  defend  truth  and  justice  against  him,  and 
"  where  he  would  overstep  the  limits  of  his  ministry. 
"  They  had  been  neither  denounced,  nor  cited,  nor  con- 
"  victed  of  any  crime  which  merited  such  chastisement. 
"  They  hoped  that  his  Majesty  by  his  favors  would  obtain 
"  in  entirety  for  them,  from  Benedict,  the  justice  which 
"  this  Pontiff  had  already  begun  to  render  them."  39 

88  Namquid  tantnm  ovem,  tu  es,  sic  Nbbilem,  praecepuam,  et  praeclaram 
relinquemns.  Pagi  Brev.  Pont.  Rom.  Tom.  Ill,  p.  553. 

"Preuves  du  Diff.,  page  227.  "Baillet,  248.         "•Baillet,  249. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  4Q3 

Up  to  the  end  of  May,  Benedict  followed  the  inspirations 
of  his  kind  and  indulgent  heart;  but  then  a  secret  voice 
sounded  in  his  heart  and  urged  him  to  resume  a  little  of 
that  courage  becoming  to  a  Pontiff;  because  justice  has 
some  duties  which  clemency  must  not  forget.  The  par- 
dons granted  were  so  many  revocations  of  penalties  sanc- 
tioned by  Boniface  when  alive.  But  there  were  enormous 
crimes  to  be  punished,  which,  from  the  depth  of  the  tomb 
of  that  Pontiff  cried  for  and  deserved  vengeance.  We 
speak  of  those  who  had  committed,  or  favored  the  incred- 
ible crime  of  Anagni.  Silence  and  impunity  would  have 
been  considered  a  sort  of  approbation. 

So  this  excellent  Pope  then  determined  finally  to  act, 
and  on  June  7th  40  he  wrote  and  published  a  Bull  in  which 
there  was  betokened  the  grandeur  and  majesty  of  a 
prophet;  after  having  recalled  the  tragic  event  of  Anagni, 
and  named  all  the  leading  conspirators,  among  whom  were 
Nogaret  and  Sciarra,  he  burst  forth  and  allowed  to  es- 
cape, in  his  grief,  some  fiery  words :  "  And  these  crimes 
"  were  committed  publicly  and  under  our  very  eyes.  .  .  . 
"  crimes  of  lese-majesty,  of  rebellion,  of  sacrilege,  of 
"  felony,  of  theft,  of  rapine,  the  mere  thought  of  which 
"  excites  horror.  Who  would  be  so  cruel  as  not  to  shed 
"tears;  so  spiteful  as  not  to  be  moved  to  compassion? 
"  What  judge  would  be  so  negligent  as  not  to  be  eager  to 
"  proceed ;  or  so  merciful  or  clement  as  not  to  become 
"  severe?  Security  has  been  violated,  immunity  offended. 
"  One's  own  country  has  not  been  a  protection ;  the  do- 
"  mestic  fireside  has  not  been  a  refuge ;  a  Sovereign  Pon- 
"  tiff  has  been  outraged ;  and  with  her  spouse  a  captive, 
"  the  Church  herself  has  been  a  captive.  Where  hence- 
"  forth  find  a  safe  place?  What  sanctuary  will  be  re- 
"  spected,  after  the  violation  of  that  of  the  Roman  Pon- 
"  tiff?  O,  inexpiable  crime!  O,  unfortunate  Anagni! 
"  May  the  rain  and  dew  fall  on  thee  no  more,  but  descend- 
"  ing  on  other  mountains  pass  to  the  side  of  thee.  Be- 
"  cause  the  hero  has  fallen ;  that  which  was  invested  with 
"  strength  has  been  overcome  under  thy  eyes,  and  thou 
"  couldst  have  prevented  it.  O,  most  wretched  malefac- 
"  tors !  In  your  actions  you  would  not  imitate  the  ex- 

* 

"Rayn.,  1304.  13. 


404  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

"  ample  of  holy  David,  who  not  only  refused  to  lay  a  hand 
"  on  the  anointed  of  the  Lord,  although  his  enemy,  perse- 
11  cutor,  and  rival,  but  even  ordered  to  be  struck  down  by 
"  the  sword  the  one  who  had  dared  to  do  so.  For  it  is 
"  written :  "  Touch  not  my  anointed."  Inexpressible 
"  grief !  lamentable  action !  pernicious  example !  inexpi- 
"  able  fault !  Intone,  O  Church,  the  mournful  chant  of 
"  lamentations ;  let  tears  course  down  thy  cheeks ;  and  as 
11  aiders  in  thy  vengeance  let  thy  sons  come  from  afar, 
"  and  thy  daughters  rush  to  thy  side." 

He  ended  the  Bull  by  heaping  on  the  heads  of  the  male- 
factors, and  all  their  aiders  and  abettors,  by  favor  or  ad- 
vice, all  the  censures  described  in  the  holy  canons,  and 
cited  them  to  appear  before  him  in  the  short  space  of 
twenty-two  days.41  There  is  a  reason  to  believe  that  after 
so  many  indulgences,  the  malefactors  considered  them- 
selves safe.  But  Benedict  thought  of  them,  and  if  he  was 
slow  in  punishing  them  until  this  time,  it  was  because  he 
was  hindered  by  just  reasons.42 

Philip  was  not  mentioned  but  he  was  comprised  among 
the  abettors,  counsellors,  and  supporters  of  the  crime; 
he  was  included  indirectly  among  the  named  chiefs;  be- 
cause there  was  no  man  in  the  world  who  did  not  be- 
lieve that  the  treachery  of  Anagni  was  entirely  his  work. 
Spondano  with  the  ingenuity  of  a  child  thinks  that 
the  King  neither  knew  nor  approved  of  those  wicked 
crimes.  But  it  would  be  useless  to  contradict  him.  The 
simple  reflection  that  Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colona  would 
not  have  dared  to  commit  such  an  enormous  crime  with- 
out the  power  and  the  wealth  of  the  King,  is  a  complete 
refutation  of  this  charitable  and  ingenuous  assertion. 
Dante  assigns  the  r61e  of  Pilate  to  Philip  the  Fair  in  that 
tragedy.43  This  role  did  not  satisfy  him,  for  the  reason 
that  proudly  trampling  under  foot  the  holiest  laws,  he 

41  See  Document  2  S.       ** "  Puniendum  prosequi  ex  justis  causis." 
48 "  See  the  modern  Pilate,  whom  avails 

No  cruelty  to  sate,  and  who,  unbidden, 

Into  the  temple  sets  his  greedy  sails. 

O  thou,  my  Lord!  when  shall  I  joyfully, 

Behold  the  vengeance,  which  profoundly  hidden 

Makes  sweet  thy  anger  in  thy  mystery  ?  " 

Purgatory,  canto  XX.     Wright's  translation. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  405 

forced  himself  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  Church,  and  there 
held  sway.  Did  the  publication  of  that  Bull,  whicty  was 
received  -with  joy  by  the  multitude,  cause  these  thoughts 
to  arise  in  his  mind?  Let  the  reader  not  ask  us,  consider- 
ing that  this  pious  and  clement  Pope  on  July  Tth  (one 
month  only  after  the  publication  of  the  Bull)  passed  out 
of  this  world  by  poison  which  was  administered  to  him. 
Philip  was  not  near,  but  the  Colonnas,  Napoleon  Orsini, 
and  his  other  most  faithful  ministers  were  very  close  at 
hand.  Some  contemporary  writers  accuse  them  of  poison- 
ing the  Pope.44  Ferretus  of  Vincenza  goes  right  to  the 
point  and  flatly  accuses  Philip  the  Fair.45 

Pardons,  and  Popes  precipitated  into  their  sepulchres 
did  not  satisfy  the  fury  of  Philip.  'These  were  only  tri- 
umphs over  men  materially  weaker  than  he;  he  wished 
to  triumph  over  right,  that  is  to  say,  he  wished  to  give 
to  his  actions  an  appearance  of  justice,  by  proving  that 
Boniface  had  been  an  illegitimate  Pope,  a  heretic,  a  mon- 
ster of  iniquity,  while  he  himself  was  guiltless  of  any 
fault,  and  a  victim  of  his  wickedness.  Now  it  is  here 
precisely  that  one  distinguishes  the  common  brigand  from 
the  tyrant.  The  former  by  force  deprives  you  of  your 
money  and  your  life;  he  violates  justice,  but  he  does  not 
profane  it  by  changing  its  nature.  The  tyrant  robs  you 
of  both  life  and  possessions,  he  crushes  you  under  foot 
down  to  the  grave,  and  drags  along  justice  in  order  to 
sanctify  his  wickedness.  Benedict  having  been  poisoned, 
Philip  had  recourse  to  other  measures  in  order  to  succeed 
in  his  design.  Tired  of  acts  of  violence,  and  perhaps  de- 
spairing of  their  efficacy,  because  dead  Popes  have  suc- 
cessors he  tried  corruption.  We  now  come  to  another  pro- 
fanation of  the  Apostolic  See. 

If  there  was  ever  a  time,  in  which,  considering  only  men, 
and  not  Heaven  which  governs  the  things  of  this  world,  it 
was  practically  impossible  to  elect  a  Pontiff  on  account  of 
dissensions  among  the  electors,  it  was  precisely  this  time. 
The  obstacles  to  a  prompt  and  peaceful  election  do  not 
come  only  from  that  weakness  of  human  nature,  which  is 
not  cured  by  the  sanctity  of  the  office,  but  rather  (a  sad 
thing  to  say)  from  fear  within,  and  tyranny  without.  The 

41  John  Villani.  L.  8.  c.  80. — Dino  Comp.  Lib.  3. — Fran.  Pipino,  Lib.  4. 
c.  49.  «S.  R.  I.  Tom.  9,  page  1013. 


406  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

one  prolonged  the  widowhood  of  the  Church;  the  other 
prepared  chains,  which  the  diabolic  inventive  genius  of 
the  Caesars  of  pagan  Rome  had  not  found.  A  Pope  per- 
secuted by  Nero,  and  hidden  in  the  Catacombs,  at  the 
most  was  at  the  summit  of  his  moral  majesty  and  power. 
A  Pope  imprisoned  by  a  most  Christian  king,  and  sweetly 
dragged  within  his  kingdom,  was  and  will  always  be  the 
most  shameful  despoliation  of  power  and  dignity.  There- 
fore the  stake  and  the  gallows  rather  than  perfidious 
caresses.  Philip  knew  it  well,  and  he  aspired  to  this  de- 
gradation of  the  Pontificate  by  favors. 

The  cardinal  electors  were  divided  into  two  parties,  the 
one  favorable  to  the  French,  and  the  other  to  the  Italians. 
Matthew  Orsini  and  Francis  Gaetani,  nephew  of  Pope 
Boniface,  were  the  chiefs  of  the  latter,  while  Napoleon 
Orsini  and  de  Prato,  wrho  as  relative  and  friend  of  the 
Colonnas  desired  their  restoration,  were  the  heads  of  the 
latter.  Scandalous  dissensions:  they  assembled,  they  ad- 
journed, they  met  again  without  doing  anything;  the 
people  were  indignant;  the  Church  sorrowed;  Philip  was 
negotiating.  Tired  of  these  skirmishes,  De  Prato  and 
Gaetani  one  day  met  in  secret,  and  agreed  that  the  Italian 
party  should  choose  at  their  pleasure,  three  French  prel- 
ates, from  whom  the  French  party  would  make  their 
selection  within  the  period  of  forty  days,  and  the  other 
would  abide  by  the  choice.  The  combination  conciliated 
all  interests ;  because  if  the  French  faction  had  the  advan- 
tage of  obtaining  a  Pope  of  that  nation,  the  Italian  fac- 
tion had  the  privilege  of  proposing  three  prelates  devoted 
to  the  memory  of  Boniface,  and  enemies  of  Philip  the 
Fair.  Gaetani  and  his  adherents  chose  three  archbishops 
who  owed  their  promotion  to  Boniface,  and  whom  Philip 
had  ostensibly  persecuted;  Cardinal  di  Prato,  with  his 
followers,  chose  from  among  the  three,  as  Pontiff,  Ber- 
trand  de  Got,  a  native  of  Bordeaux,  and  the  Archbishop 
of  that  see.  De  Prato  speedily  acquainted  Philip  of  the 
choice,  the  archbishop  being  as  yet  ignorant  of  the  fact, 
in  order  that  the  King  might  negotiate,  and  take  posses- 
sion of  him.  Philip  was  shrewd  and  he  knew  that  the 
Pope  elect  was  ambitious  and  greedy  for  honors.  He  made 
an  appointment  with  him  in  a  forest,  near  the  Abbey  of 
St  John  d'Angely.  In  the  first  place  he  requested  him  to 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  407 

be  reconciled  to  Charles  of  Valois,  against  whom  he  en- 
tertained an  old  aversion;  then  showing  him  the  letter  of 
de  Prato,  he  said,  that  the  Papal  Keys  were  in  his  hands, 
and  if  he  wished  to  obtain  them  he  would  have  to  promise : 
1st,  to  reconcile  him  fully  to  the  Church;  2nd,  to  absolve 
him  and  his  partisians  from  the  censure  of  excommuni- 
cation; 3rd,  to  condemn  the  memory  of  Boniface;  4th,  to 
restore  the  two  Colonnas  to  the  dignity  of  cardinal.  5th, 
to  grant  him  the  tithes  of  all  the  French  churches  for  five 
years ;  the  6th  favor  was  to  remain  a  secret  until  the  king 
deemed  the  time  opportune  for  its  disclosure.  And  many 
conjectured,  not  incorrectly  that  it  was  the  removal  of  the 
Papal  See  to  Avignon.  Dazzled  by  the  glitter  of  the  tiara, 
the  Archbishop  opened  his  mouth  only  to  swear  on  the 
holy  Eucharist  that  he  would  observe  faithfully  all  that 
Philip  wished  him  to  promise  to  do.  After  having  given 
to  the  King  as  a  guarantee  his  brother  and  two  nephews 
as  hostages,  the  prelate  departed;  some  messengers  sent 
by  Philip,  went  quickly  to  inform  de  Prato  of  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  shameful  compact.46  Faithful  to  their  prom- 
ise, and  ignorant  of  this  secret  interview,  the  Italians  cast 
their  votes  for  the  Archbishop,  who  was  solemnly  elected 
sovereign  Pontiff.  He  took  the  name  of  Clement  V.  The 
Cardinal  electors  announced  to  the  faithful  this  election, 
but  they  kept  silent  on  the  compromise  agreed  to  by  the 
chiefs  of  the  two  factions,  and  the  artifices  of  the  French 
party.47  The  Italians  perceived  the  ruse,  as  soon  as  the 
new  Pope  ordered  them  to  come  to  him  in  Lyons,  where 
he  wished  to  be  crowned.  They  manifested  loudly  their 
surprise,  and  chagrin,  but  they  were  already  in  the  trap, 
from  which  they  would  not  escape,  so  that  turning  to 
Cardinal  de  Prato,  Matthew  Orsini,  dean  of  the  sacred 
College,  said  to  him :  "  You  succeeded  in  leading  us  into 
"  the  trap ;  the  Roman  Court  had  crossed  the  mountains ; 
"  it  will  not  be  seen  soon  again  in  Italy ;  I  know  something 
"  of  the  temperament  of  the  Gascons."  Clement  was  a 
Gascon.48 

While  the  Cardinals  were  striving  in  Perugia  to  elect 
a  Pope,  Philip  and  Nogaret  were  not  losing  time  in 
France.  The  latter,  notwithstanding  his  harangues  and 

"John  Villani  L.  8.  c.  80.  "  Raynaldus,   1305,   1306. 

"Villani,  ibidem,  c.  81. 


408  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

blustering,  was  severely  tormented  by  the  censures  im- 
posed on  him.  Those  of  Benedict  especially  weighed  very 
heavily  on  him,  and  he  saw  clearly  that,  as  time  calmed 
the  resentment  against  Boniface,  he  would  end  by  showing 
a  disgraceful  role  with  his  calumnies  and  his  robbery  of 
Anagni.  So  in  order  to  free  himself  from  the  excommuni- 
cations, and  rehabilitate  himself  in  the  public  favor,  he 
issued  manifestoes,  in  which  he  justified  his  acts.  He 
addressed  five  of  them  to  the  officials  of  the  Church  of 
Paris;  and  all  could  be  reduced  to  the  following:  "He 
"  should  not  be  surprised  to  see  him  ask  absolution  from 
"  censures ;  sent  to  negotiate  with  the  Roman  See,  he 
"  asked  only  for  greater  security.  The  decrees  of  Boni- 
"  face  were  not  binding  before  God  or  men.  He  did  not 
"  retract  one  single  word  of  his  grievances  against  this 
"Pontiff;  he  was  ever  ready  to  accuse  him  of  heresy,  of 
"  schism,  of  idolatry,  and  this  for  the  instruction  of  prel- 
"  ates  and  too  indulgent  kings,  through  love  for  his  coun- 
"  try,  so  horribly  maltreated  by  that  Pope.  Sent  to  Rome, 
"  by  his  majesty  to  urge  the  convocation  of  a  council,  to 
"  which  all  France  appealed,  he  had  employed  success- 
"  fully  all  means  of  avoiding  extreme  measures,  which  the 
"  obstinacy  of  the  Pontiff  had  voluntarily  provoked.  He 
"  had  nothing  to  reproach  himself  with  in  the  events  of 
"  Anagni  with  regard  to  a  Pope,  who  by  his  contumacy 
"  was  acknowledged  guilty  of  heresy,  and  all  other  crimes 
"  imputed  to  him.  While  there  prudence  and  humanity 
"  had  been  the  rule  of  his  conduct ;  he  had  forbidden  the 
"  pillage  of  the  Papal  palace  and  treasury ;  but  the  fury  of 
"  the  soldiers  exceeded  the  command  of  the  chief,  and  if 
"  Boniface  had  escaped  alive  from  their  hands,  he  owed 
"  it  to  him,  Nogaret,  alone.  Restored  to  liberty,  that 
"  Pontiff  had  pardoned  all  those  who  had  maltreated  him, 
"  and  he  found  himself  named  among  those  pardoned. 
"  After  the  death  of  that  Pontiff  he  had  interrupted  his 
"  proceedings  against  him  only  through  deference  for 
"  Pope  Benedict,  but  he  renewed  them  now  more  vigor- 
"  ously  than  ever ;  he  was  well  prepared  to  justify  him- 
"  self,  and  prove  the  truth  of  his  accusation,  either  in  a 
"  full  Council,  or  even  before  the  convocation  of  this  coun- 
"  cil,  before  the  Holy  See,  provided  there  would  be  suffi- 
"  cient  protection  against  the  resentment  of  the  relatives 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  4Q9 

'"  and  partisans  of  Boniface."  He  complained  in  the  other 
documents,  of  the  injustice  of  Benedict,  who  had  excom- 
municated him ;  and  he  asked,  as  a  measure  of  precaution, 
for  absolution  from  the  censures,  in  order  that  he  might 
proceed  more  freely  against  the  memory  of  Boniface,  not 
through  hatred,  but  for  the  glory  of  God,  the  good  of  the 
Church,  and  the  preservation  of  the  public  right.49 

Nogaret  was  depressed  and  agitated.  But  the  elevation 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  to  the  sovereign  Pontifi- 
cate raised  his  hopes,  and  those  of  Philip.  These  hopes 
were  manifested  at  the  feasts  of  Lyons.  Clement  desired 
to  be  crowned  in  this  city  and  not  at  Rome.  He  invited  to 
this  grand  ceremony  the  King  of  France,  and  the  King 
of  England,  of  whom  he  was  a  subject,  being  a  Gascon, 
who  could  not  come,  as  he  was  detained  in  his  kingdom 
by  the  affairs  of  Scotland.  When  Cardinal  Matthew 
Rossi  Orsini,  who  as  we  remarked  was  the  first  to  foresee 
the  long  exile  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs,  had  placed  the  crown 
on  his  head,  Clement  set  out  triumphantly  with  a  caval- 
cade for  his  palace.  Philip  the  Fair  for  a  part  of  the  time 
appeared  on  foot  in  the  procession  holding  the  bridle  of 
the  horse  on  which  the  Pontiff  was  mounted;  the  two 
brothers  of  the  King,  Charles  of  Valois,  and  Louis  of 
Evreux,  and  John,  Duke  of  Brittany  performed  the  same 
office  successively  for  the  Pope.  Speaking  of  Avignon,  we 
do  not  know  whether  it  was  in  triumph  or  to  prison  that 
Philip  led  Clement.  The  feast  was  marred  by  a  sad  acci- 
dent. An  old  wall  which  lined  the  way  of  the  procession, 
fell  under  the  weight  of  the  numerous  spectators  with 
which  it  was  laden,  at  the  very  moment  the  Pope  was 
passing;  Clement  was  not  injured,  but  only  thrown  to 
the  ground,  and  his  crown,  fallen  from  his  head,  rolled 
in  the  mire.  Twelve  persons  within  the  compass  of  it 
were  mortally  wounded,  and  died  a  few  days  afterwards; 
among  the  number  was  the  Duke  of  Brittany ;  the  Duke  of 
Valois  was  badly  injured.  The  Italian  cardinals  con- 
sidered this  lamentable  accident  a  bad  omen.  The  fes- 
tivities were  followed  by  the  fulfilment  of  the  promises 
made  by  Bertrand  de  Got.  In  December  the  two  Colon- 
nas  were  reinstated  in  the  dignity  of  cardinal,  became 

•Preuvea,  pp.  237,  239,  252,  269,  274. 


410  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

again  electors  and  elegible  to  the  Papacy  themselves;  ten 
other  cardinals  were  created,  all  Frenchmen;  the  sen- 
tence of  Boniface  against  Philip  and  his  ministers  was 
revoked,  and  tithes  were  granted  for  five  years.  The  Pope 
as  yet  was  not  pressed  to  condemn  the  memory  of  Boni- 
face, and  in  the  meanwhile  Philip  and  Clement  parted 
very  well  pleased.  Philip  went  home,  Clement  could  not, 
and  he  went  to  Bordeaux.  Either  the  secret  favor  which 
Philip  has  asked  from  him  was  not  to  leave  France,  or 
Clement,  fearing  the  anger  of  the  Gaetani,  did  not  want 
to  go  to  Rome. 

Clement  found  himself  in  a  difficult  and  an  embarrass- 
ing position.  He  was  a  Frenchman,  and  a  French  prince, 
if  he  had  not  placed  him  in  the  Pontifical  chair,  at  least 
aided  him  to  arrive  there ;  therefore,  although  the  voice  of 
duty  of  his  high  office  spoke  strongly  to  him  interiorly, 
it  was  stifled  by  the  love  of  country,  and  a  feeling  of 
gratitude  towards  Philip.  Benedict  also  would  have 
granted  him  the  tithes,  and  would  have  given  him  absolu- 
tion from  censures,  and  we  have  seen  how  that  good  Pontiff 
in  all  the  indulgences  he  lavished  on  Philip,  avoided,  with 
wonderful  cleverness,  all  that  which  would  appear  as  a  re- 
vocation of  the  acts  of  Boniface.  Past  and  present  reasons 
impelled  Clement  to  revoke  the  Papal  constitution  of 
Boniface,  and  it  came  to  that.  The  most  vexations  to 
Philip  were  the  constitution  "  Clericis  laicos"  and  the 
one  which  began  by  the  words :  Unam  sanctam ;  they  were 
nightmares  which  made  sleep  impossible  to  Philip.  Clem- 
ent published  two  decretals  the  1st  of  February ; 50  one  of 
them  abrogated  the  first  of  these  Bulls,  as  a  cause  of  dis- 
sension, and  condemned  all  the  subsequent  acts  of  Boni- 
face in  defence  of  it,  recalling  however  the  faithful  to  the 
observance  of  the  regulations  of  the  councils,  especially 
of  the  Council  of  the  Lateran  relative  to  the  taxes  which 
laymen  levied  on  ecclesiastical  property.  The  other  de- 
cretal did  not  revoke  but  rather  renewed  the  constitution 
Unum  sanctum.  Here  are  the  words :  "  The  entire  and 
11  sincere  affection  of  our  dear  son  Philip,  illustrious  King 
"  of  France,  towards  us  and  towards  the  Roman  Church ; 
"  the  brilliant  deserts  of  his  ancestors ;  the  pure  and  sin- 

60Ber.  Guido.  Chron.  R.  Pontif. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  4H 

"  cere  devotion  of  his  subjects,  merit  for  him  and  his  king- 
"  dom  signal  favors.  We  wish  accordingly,  and  intend 
"  that  the  dispositions  of  the  Bull  Unam  Sanctum  of  Pope 
"  Boniface  VIII,  our  predecessor  of  happy  memory,  bear 
"  to  them  no  prejudice  whatever;  that  they  do  not  subject 
"  them  more  strictly  than  before  to  the  Roman  Church ; 
"  but  that  everything  remains,  regarding  the  Church,  the 
"  King,  the  kingdom  and  its  inhabitants,  in  the  state  in 
"  which  it  was  previously."  51 

Now  supposing  that  the  constitution  Unum  Sanctum 
was  here  revoked,  there  is  no  denying  the  fact,  that  the 
revocation  regarded  only  France,  and  it  effected  the  letter 
rather  than  "the  spirit.  In  fact  in  speaking  before  of  this 
Bull,  we  remarked  that  Boniface  had  not  put  forth  any 
thing  new.  Hence  recalling  to  Philip  (as  in  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  Bull  clericis )  the  old  rules,  Clement  did  nothing 
but  bind  this  prince  tacitly  to  the  very  constitutions  which 
he  believed  were  abolished.  But  Philip  was  pleased  by 
appearances;  hence  notwithstanding  the  praises  given 
him  for  his  merits,  his  devotion,  and  his  ardent  love  for 
the  Roman  See,  he  could  not  bear  the  epithet  happy  ap- 
plied to  the  memory  of  Boniface  VIII.  It  disturbed  his 
own  happiness,  and  turned  into  bitterness  the  sweet  and 
paternal  concessions;  he  wanted  his  name  cancelled  from 
the  Papal  writings  and  from  the  hearts  of  all  faithful 
Christians.  He  vigorously  importuned  the  Pope  to  con- 
demn Boniface,  as  he  had  sworn  to  do.  Pressed  by  the 
ambassadors  of  the  King,  Clement  was  in  torture.  To 
use  the  keys  given  to  St.  Peter  to  open  the  gates  of  Heaven, 
for  the  opening  of  a  tomb  wherein  a  Vicar  of  Christ  re- 
posed, to  revive  his  memory;  to  drag  it  before  the  bar  of 
a  tribunal  instituted  to  protect  justice;  and  to  immolate 
him  with  infamy  by  weapons  furnished  by  a  brutal  prince 
— such  were  the  series  of  enormities  which  a  sovereign 
Pontiff  was  called  upon  to  sanction.  Clement  felt  his 
position  as  Pontiff,  and  full  of  horror,  he  tried  to  tempor- 
ize; but  that  expedient  has  ever  been  ruinous  to  the  weak 
against  a  violent  enemy.  For  it  is  always  necessary  to 
reply  to  force  by  force  and  not  by  weakness.  Philip  cut 
short  these  evasions  and  delays,  by  inviting  him  to  an 

61  Raynaldus,  1306. 


412         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

interview  at  Poitiers  in  the  spring  of  1307.  Strongly  im- 
portuned by  Philip  the  Pope  had  to  obey.  He  went  to 
Poitiers,  and  the  King  repaired  thither  with  a  splendid 
court;  Charles  of  Valois,  and  his  sons  accompanied  him. 
Robert  Count  of  Flanders;  Charles  II  of  Sicily,  and  the 
ambassadors  of  Edward  I,52  by  their  presence  added  eclat 
to  this  assembly.  Hayton,  an  envoy  from  the  King  of  Ar- 
menia, was  also  present,  through  the  report  circulated  by 
Philip  that  the  affairs  of  the  Holy  Land  would  be  treated 
in  that  meeting.  But  the  sole  affair  was  the  condemnation 
of  Boniface.  By  his  own  presence  and  that  of  so  many 
princes  Philip  wanted  to  wrest  from  Clement  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  swTorn  promise.  The  Pope  trembled,  and  the 
Cardinals  were  no  more  tranquil.  The  latter  advised  the 
Pope  to  flee  in  disguise  from  Poitiers;  but  Philip  inter- 
cepted him,  and  forced  him  to  remain.53 

The  assaults  of  the  King  were  terrible,  and  horrible  were 
his  demands.  He  demanded  that  the  proceedings  against 
the  memory  of  Boniface,  which  he  considered  had  already 
been  begun,  be  brought  to  an  end;  and  the  truth  of  the 
crimes  alleged  by  Nogaret  having  been  established,  the 
body  of  that  Pope  should  be  dragged  from  the  tomb,  and 
be  publicly  consigned  to  the  flames.  Philip  insisted,  and 
he  reminded  the  Pope  of  his  oath  in  the  forest  of  St.  John 
d'Angely.  In  these  straightened  circumstances  the  soul 
of  Clement  was  perplexed,  and  he  tried  to  influence  Philip, 
now  by  magnifying  the  difficulty  of  such  a  procedure 
which  could  not  be  had  without  the  advice  of  the  Car- 
dinals, now  by  lessening  the  enormity  of  the  faults  im- 
puted to  his  predecessor,  and  persuading  the  King  to 
exercise  moderation  in  this  affair,  by  checking  the  im- 
petuosity of  the  accusers,  and  not  close  the  way  to  justi- 
fication.54 But  Philip  was  deaf  to  every  entreaty,  and 
angered  by  the  obstacles  he  pursued  his  project  with 
greater  ardor.  Clement  believed  himelf  lost.  Cardinal 
de  Prato  came  to  his  assistance,  and  suggested  an  expe- 
dient. Although  French  in  spirit,  yet  as  a  Cardinal  and 
a  creature  of  Boniface  he  could  not  bear  to  allow  that 
prince  to  proceed  unchecked  not  only  against  the  memory 

MVillani,  L.  8,  c.  91. 

81  Vita  Clem.  Joan.  S.  Vic.  apud.  Baluz.  Tom.  3,  p.  452. 

"Raynaldus,  1307,  no.  10. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  413 

of  a  Pontiff,  but  directly  against  the  Apostolic  See.  With 
great  cleverness  he  advised  Clement  to  represent  to  the 
King  the  inconvenience  of  proceeding  directly  to  a  trial, 
in  a  consistory  composed  of  cardinals,  who,  for  the  most 
part  fond  of  Boniface,  would  not  fail  to  oppose  and  defeat 
his  design;  the  advantage  there  would  be  of  entrusting 
the  affair  to  a  council  which  he  could  convoke  at  Vienne 
in  Dauphiny,  in  which  the  sentence,  being  of  greater 
weight  and  more  authoritative,  would  thus  afford  greater 
satisfaction  to  the  King.  The  Cardinal  further  added 
that  Vienne  being  a  neutral  city,  the  French  would  not 
predominate  in  the  assembly,  in  which  it  would  be  easy 
to  save  the  memory  of  the  detested  Pontiff.55  Clement 
hastened  to  represent  these  things  to  Philip  in  the  sweet- 
est possible  manner,  and  if  he  did  not  succeed  in  subduing 
that  proud  and  fiery  nature,  he  calmed  it  a  little,  and 
gained  time,  which  is  almost  a  salvation  to  pusillanimous 
men. 

The  announcement  of  a  Council  quieted  Philip;  which 
idea  since  the  assembly  of  the  Louvre,  was  a  dream  of  his 
and  inspired  him  with  the  hope  of  a  more  splendid  tri- 
umph, and  thus  moderated  the  fury  of  his  impetuous  re- 
venge. This  was  rather  a  truce  than  a  peace.  The  more 
Clement  tried  to  clear  him  and  his  ministers  from  the 
infamy  of  their  evil  deeds,  so  much  the  more  this  obstin- 
ate prince  clamored  and  strived  to  have  the  corpse  of 
Boniface  exhumed.56  Courage  began  to  leave  Clement; 
he  saw  by  experience  that  in  a  foreign  country  a  Roman 
Pontiff  was  always  a  slave;  that  to  the  cry  of  alarm  no 
one  would  reply  in  France;  and  that  the  will  of  a  king 
who  had  no  regard  for  the  Papal  dignity,  imposed  it  on 
him  as  a  yoke  to  bind  him  in  an  injustice.  In  times  of  old 
on  the  contrary  when  the  voice  of  a  Pope  was  freely  heard 
from  the  Vatican  hill,  the  voice  of  the  entire  Church 
always  responded  with  aid,  and  before  he  could  reach  him 
to  disturb  him  on  his  throne,  a  prince  had  first  to  ,trample 
upon  dust  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  martyrs,  and  from 
which  there  arose  as  fire  a  secret  power  of  memories, 
which  was  more  destructive  than  a  sceptre.  He  had  ex- 
hausted the  treasury  of  Pontifical  favors;  the  assembly 

"Villani,  L.  8,  c.  92.  "Raynaldus,  1307,  no.  10. 


414  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

of  Poitiers  had  been  a  triumph  to  Philip.  Charles  of 
Valois  whose  character  we  have  seen  from  the  affairs  of 
Sicily  and  Tuscany,  appeared  in  that  assembly  as  the 
Emperor  of  Byzantium  chosen  by  Clement.57  The  latter 
had  previously  granted  him  the  tithes  of  all  the  churches 
of  France  for  two  years,  and  indulgences  to  all  those  who 
would  accompany  him  in  the  war  against  the  Greeks. 
Now  although  Charles  of  Valois,  being  contented  with  the 
sacred  money  thought  very  little  of  Byzantium,  yet  Clem- 
ent, for  the  sake  of  his  dear  son  Philip,  to  whom  at  any 
cost  he  wanted  to  be  agreeable,  spoke  strongly  to  the 
faithful  to  arouse  them  to  a  Crusade  apparently  against 
the  Turks  who  threatened  Andronico,  but  in  reality  to 
dislodge  Andronico  and  place  Valois  on  the  throne.58  The 
remark  that  Clement  wanted  to  be  agreeable  to  Philip,  re- 
lieves us  of  the  necessity  of  declaring  that  neither  the 
Pope  nor  the  faithful  had  the  Turks  in  view.  Philip 
wanted  to  place  his  son,  Louis  le-Hutin  (the  quarreller) 
on  the  throne  of  Navarre,  and  Clement  gave  him  a  help- 
ing hand,59  and  the  young  prince  took  possession  at  Pam- 
peluna.60  Philip  requested  Clement  to  confirm  Carobert, 
son  of  his  cousin  Charles  II  of  Sicily,  in  his  possession  of 
the  crown  of  Hungary,  and  this  he  did,  by  striking  with 
anathema  Otho  of  Bavaria,  his  rival.61  Philip  asked  that 
the  debt  of  360,000  ounces  of  gold  which  his  cousin  owed 
to  the  Holy  See  be  remitted,  and  Clement  remitted  a 
third,  intending  the  remainder  for  the  expense  of  the 
Crusade  of  Charles  of  Valois.62  Philip  triumphed,  but 
Clement  deceived  himself  if  he  believed  that  he  was  satis- 
fied. There  was  one  glory  lacking  in  his  triumph,  and 
that  was  that  the  Pope  should  descend  into  the  tomb,  and 
search  for  the  ghost  of  Boniface  in  order  to  condemn  it. 
This  Saul  of  the  XlVth  century  wished  to  change  by  force 
a  Roman  Pontiff  into  a  pythoness. 

We  have  seen  that  the  primary  cause  of  the  quarrel 
between  Philip  and  Boniface  had  been  the  rapacity  of  the 
King  and  his  demands  on  the  property  of  the  churches. 
This  lust  for  gold  was  not  satisfied,  but  increased  from 
day  to  day,  both  because  of  his  cupidity,  and  because  the 

"Raynaldus,  1306,  no.  2.  K  Raynaldus,  1307.  6. 

88  Raynaldus,  1307.  14.  «°Conti  Nangii,  p.  60. 

•'Raynaldus,  1307,  15-21.  «° Raynaldus,  1307.  23. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  415 

long  and  obstinate  wars  in  Flanders  had  exhausted  the 
sources  of  the  public  revenues.  Philip  in  his  search  for 
money  had  recourse  to  quick  expedients;  and  he  had  no 
scruples  regarding  the  means  he  adopted;  to  wish  with 
him  was  the  same  as  to  have.  The  counterfeiting  63  of  the 
public  money  was  a  holy  measure  justified  by  necessity; 
the  spoliation  of  the  churches  was  a  venerable  exercise  of 
the  royal  rights ;  and  when  the  monies  were  weary  of  these 
repeated  falsifications,  (for  Philip  had  committed  them 
often),  and  when  the  churches  either  could  not  or  would 
not  gratify  his  wishes,  he  pounced  upon  whoever  had 
money  to  extort  it  from  them,  always  covering  his  royal 
dignity  with  the  mantle  of  justice.  In  1291  on  the  same 
day  he  robbed  all  the  Italian  merchants  residing  in 
France ;  he  accused  them  of  usury.  In  1306  he  treated  the 
Jews  in  the  same  manner.64  And  since  in  those  times  to 
render  an  action  commendable  and  justifiable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people,  there  was  need  of  the  intervention  of  re- 
ligion, many  times  this  wretch  dragged  the  clergy  in  his 
train  and  exacted  their  cooperation  in  his  robberies.  A 
strong  proof  of  this  is  that  which  we  have  narrated  of  his 
insolence  to  Clement  in  his  endeavor  to  have  the  bones 
of  Boniface  burned.  If  he  had  lived  after  the  reformation 
of  Martin  Luther,  and  the  revolt  of  Henry  VIII,  it  is  not 
to  be  doubted  that  in  order  to  extirpate  the  scandals  of 
the  monks  and  the  clergy,  he  would  have  piously  confis- 
cated their  property,  having  already  proved  that  Bulls 
and  canons  of  Councils  are  small  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a 
king  who  is  resolutely  intent  on  his  purpose.  But  the 
times  were  not  ripe  for  actions  of  this  nature.  He  oper- 
ated in  detail,  and  always  on  societies.  For  just  as  they 
could  more  easily  bear  calumnies  than  individuals,  so  it 
was  likewise  more  easy  to  bestow  on  the  blow  that  struck 
them  a  semblance  of  justice  and  morality.  After  having 
robbed  the  Italians  and  the  Jews,  he  cast  his  eyes  on  a 
society^  remarkable  for  its  immense  wealth,  and  which, 
by  reason  of  the  faults  of  some  of  its  members,  could 
without  doubt  present  the  aforesaid  appearance  of  justice 
and  morality  to  his  attacks,  to  be  sanctioned  always  by  a 
judgment  of  the  Church.  We  here  refer  to  the  famous 

**  Sismondi  Hist,  of  France,  chap  XXI,  Tom.  6,  page  87.     Brussels  1839. 
84  Sismondi.     Hist,  of  France,  chap.  XXII,  page  122. 


41(5  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

Templars.  The  reader  will  bear  with  us  while  we  narrate 
briefly  the  story  of  this  holy  militia,  whose  ruin  was  allied 
to  that  with  which  Philip  threatened  the  memory  of 
Boniface. 

The  pious  pilgrimages  in  former  times  to  the  holy 
places  in  Palestine  originated,  as  it  appears,  by  Helena, 
mother  of  Constantine  in  the  fourth  century,  were  the 
first  causes  of  the  Crusades,  and  of  the  Military  Orders. 
No  one  can  read  without  emotion  the  recital  of  the  dan- 
gers to  which  the  pilgrims  were  exposed  on  the  way,  and 
the  affronts  they  had  to  bear  from  the  avarice  of  the  in- 
fidels, the  guardians  of  the  Holy  Places.65  The  afflictions 
of  these  devoted  people  touched  the  heart  of  all  Christen- 
dom; and  just  as  some  took  up  arms  for  the  conquest  of 
the  Holy  Land,  so  some  societies  were  armed  in  defence 
of  those  who  desired  to  visit  it.  These  societies  were  the 
Military  Orders,  deputed  either  for  the  care  of  sick  pil- 
grims, or  for  the  protection  of  pilgrims  against  the  Turks 
during  the  journey.  The  Templars  were  chosen  for  this 
noble  purpose.  Their  Order  was  founded  by  five  knights 
who  took  part  in  the  first  Crusade,  and  all  the  names  of 
whom  are  lost  with  the  exception  of  two,  Hugh  de  Payens, 
and  Ganfred  of  St.  Aldemar.66  They  bound  themselves, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  of  other 
bishops,  for  the  remission  of  their  sins,  to  hold  and  guard 
against  robbers  the  roads  on  which  the  devout  pilgrims 
would  travel,  and  to  observe  perpetual  chastity,  obedience 
and  poverty.67  They  were  called  Templars,  from  the 
name  of  the  place,  which  Baldwin,  King  of  Jerusalem, 
first  assigned  them  as  a  residence,  which  wras  near  the 
temple  of  Solomon ;  for  which  reason  afterwards  all  their 
houses  in  France  and  England  were  called  Templars.68 
In  the  year  of  1125  Hugh  de  Payens,  with  some  of  his 
knights,  appeared  before  the  council  of  Troyes,  presided 
over  by  the  Legate  of  Honorius  II,  and  asked  for  a  rule  to 

^Guil.  Ty.  Hist.  Bell.  sac.  lib.  I,  c.  10.     Sed  qui  in  itinere  cuncta 
perdiderant,  et  vix  eum  incolumitate  membrorum  ad  loca  pervenerant 
optata,  unde  tributum  solverent,  non  habebant.     Sic  enim  fiebat, 
ut  ante  urbem  ex  talibus  mille  vel  plures  collecti,  et  expectantes 
introeundi  licentiam,  fame  et  nuditate  consumpti  deficerent. 

68  Guill.  Hist.  bell.  Sac.  L.  ib.  12,  c.  7. 

87  The  same  and  Matth.  Paris — Jac.  de  Vetri.  Hist.  Hier,  c.  65. 

88  Du  Fresne  Gloss. 


HISTORY    OF.    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

follow.  St.  Bernard  was  deputed  to  write  it,  who  was 
most  enthusiastic  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  Holy 
Land,  and  recognized  in  the  Templars  a  most  powerful 
aid  sent  to  the  faithful  from  Heaven.69  It  is  pleasant  to 
read  how  the  holy  Abbot  with  a  fertility  of  imagination 
extols  the  nobility  of  the  Temple  of  knights  which  he  even 
elevates  above  that  of  Solomon.70  They  received  from 
this  Council  a  common  habit  of  white  color.  Later  in 
1145  Pope  Eugenius  III  made  them  place  on  their  cloak  a 
cross  of  red  cloth.71  Thus  the  whiteness  of  the  habit  in- 
dicated the  innocence  and  candor  of  their  lives,  and  the 
cross  of  red,  martyrdom  for  which  they  should  be  pre- 
pared by  the  defence  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  enemies  of  the  cross.72  The  field  of  their 
escutcheon  was  colored  equally  with  white  and  black,  to 
signify  kindness  towards  friends,  and  severity  towards 
enemies.73  In  principle  they  were  anchorites  in  military 
dress,  and  one  does  not  know  which  to  admire  in  them  the 
more,  the  observances  of  evangelical  perfection  or  their 
formidable  military  virtue.  They  were  most  obedient  and 
respectful  to  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem ; 74  they  prac- 
tised poverty  to  such  a  high  degree  that  their  founders 
Hugh  and  Ganfred  had  but  one  horse  between  them;  so 
that  in  memory  of  this  poverty  and  singular  humility, 
they  had  engraved  on  their  seal  the  figure  of  two  knights 
seated  on  the  one  same  horse.75  The  integrity  of  their 
morals  was  such  that  they  observed  in  word  and  laughter 
the  most  austere  reserve.76  Valiant  in  war,  closely  and 
prudently  united  to  their  chief,  they  were  always  the  first 
to  advance  in  the  line  of  battle,  they  were  the  last  to  re- 
treat and  in  retreating  they  never  turned  their  heads  to 
the  enemy ;  nor  without  obeying  the  orders  of  their  chiefs. 
In  a  word  they  were  the  wonder  and  delight  of  all  Chris- 
tians. Such  is  the  statement  of  James  de  Vitry.77  William 

"Exert,  ad  milit.,  c.  1. 

70  The  same  C.   8 "  Pro   candelabris,  thuribulis,  atque 

urceolis,  domus  undique  frenis,  sellis  ac  lanceis  communitur." 

n  "  UT  inter  caeteros  essent  nobiliores."  Wil.  Tyri.  1.  12,  c.  7. 

71  Jac.  de  Vitriaco,  c.  65.  n  Idem  de  Vitriaco. 
74  St.  Bernard  exhort,  ad  milites,  c.  4.                 "  Matth.  Paris.  Chron. 
w  St.  Bernard.     Exhort,  ad  milites. 

77 "  Nulli  molesti  erant,  sed  ab  omnibus  propter  humilitatem  et  relig- 
ionem  amabantur." 


418  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

of  Tyr  declares  that  their  wealth  and  numbers  were  im- 
mense in  his  time,  and  James  de  Vitry  said  that  their 
number  had  increased  indefinitely.  This  wealth  was  at 
first  a  temptation,  and  later  it  became  a  scandal.  Now  it  is 
undeniable  that  the  object  which  these  pious  knights  had 
in  view  in  the  beginning  was  most  holy;  and  we  do  not 
doubt  that  the  head  ones  who  showed  the  way  acted  under 
the  holy  impulse  of  faith;  but  just  as  the  Crusades  them- 
selves were  soon  profaned  by  the  ambitions  of  the  chiefs, 
and  the  licentiousness  of  the  multitude,  so  the  knightly 
orders  wandered  away  from  the  sublime  purpose  of  their 
institution.  The  monastic  orders  ran  the  same  risks,  but 
the  rigor  of  material  discipline,  the  separation  from  the 
world,  the  individual  poverty,  the  authority  of  superiors, 
and  the  absence  of  hope  of  ever  acquiring  a  brilliant  repu- 
tation, were  a  harbor  which  welcomed  on  its  bosom  the 
shipwrecked  members;  and  if  all  did  not  feel  themselves 
sufficiently  strong  to  renew  their  noble  and  dangerous 
career,  all  at  least  remained  hidden,  that  is  to  say,  the 
cloisters  cast  their  charitable  shadows  over  the  deformi- 
ties and  infirmities  of  human  nature.  So  although  having 
lost  their  first  fervor,  the  monastic  orders  had  the  means 
to  revive  it,  and  to  hide  the  lukewarm  spirits;  scandals 
began  with  the  ending  of  this  discipline.  Similar  to  the 
monks  in  the  first  glow  of  faith,  the  Templars,  and  with 
them  all  the  sacred  militia,  differed  from  the  monks 
through  lack  of  means  which  would  sustain  them  on  the 
supernatural  road  on  which  they  walked,  and  which  would 
aid  them  to  arise  from  their  falls.  They  were  servants  of 
Christ,  but  clothed  in  armor,  and  obliged  by  duty  to  fight 
actively  in  a  country  in  which  the  fervor  of  religion  could 
not  always  triumph  over  the  unfavorable  conditions  in 
which  they  found  themselves  placed;  we  speak  of  the  con- 
tact with  their  enemies  and  also  of  the  climate.  The 
tumult  of  camps,  the  passions  of  war,  the  joy  of  victory, 
and  the  sweet  thought  of  booty,  could  not  but  oppress  the 
spirit,  and  cause  it  to  fall  from  that  sublime  mysticism 
in  which  the  solitaries  of  Thebais  had  maintained  them- 
selves with  so  much  effort,  and  at  the  price  of  the  priva- 
tion of  all  earthly  things.  Moreover  in  this  epoch  chival- 
rous exploits  called  forth  more  esteem  and  consideration 
than  any  science;  and  as  these  were  sung  in  verse,  they 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

aroused  the  warmest  and  liveliest  affections  in  the  hearts 
of  those  who  had  most  capacity  for  poetry;  and  hence 
between  these  hearts  and  a  knight  who  returned  from  the 
Holy  Land  narrating  his  combats  with  the  Saracens,  there 
would  course  such  a  strong  feeling  of  sympathy  against 
which  the  strongest  coat  of  mail  of  a  Templar  would  be 
a  powerless  protection.  A  monk  was  never  exposed  to 
such  dangers  as  these.  If  then  the  Templars,  by  preserv- 
ing the  bonds  which  held  them  in  subjection  to  their 
Grand  Master,  could  persevere  in  the  conditions  of  a  regu- 
lar militia,  they  however  with  difficulty  remained  monks. 
William  of  Tyr78  declares  that  in  his  time  they  had 
already  departed  from  their  first  intent,  and  Matthew  of 
Paris  makes  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  say  against  these 
knights  these  words  of  the  Bible :  "  I  have  nourished  and 
"  exalted  my  children  and  they  have  despised  me." 

But  even  though  the  Templars  had  continued  in  their 
first  discipline,  they  would  always  have  aroused  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  prince  in  whose  country  they  resided.  In  fact 
if  the  Church  by  only  the  moral  power  she  exercised  over 
the  people,  aroused  the  jealousy  and  cupidity  of  kings,  the 
latter  should  for  a  stronger  reason  feel  the  same  senti- 
ments with  regard  to  a  society  of  men,  not  only  respected 
by  the  people  by  reason  of  the  holiness  of  their  institute, 
and  of  the  red  cross  they  wore  on  their  mantles,  but  feared 
by  reason  of  the  material  force  of  their  weapons,  the 
mighty  power  of  their  wealth,  and  their  relations  with 
persons  of  high  degree.  A  Pope  could  be  imprisoned  by 
open  force,  but  a  Grand-Master  of  the  Templars  could  only 
be  by  cunning,  and  by  means  of  deceitful  forms  which 
were  called  at  that  time  criminal  right.  Gregory  X 
thought  to  reform  them,  and  he  wanted  to  unite  them  to 
the  Knights  Hospitalers.79  Pope  Nicholas  IV  wished  to 
do  the  same  in  1289,  and  he  wrote  to  the  Grand-Masters 
of  the  two  orders  but  nothing  came  of  it.80  The  violation 
of  their  vow  of  chastity  did  not  disturb  Philip  of  France, 
but  their  poverty  being  changed  to  immense  wealth,  and 
their  obedience  into  a  proud  command  forcibly  aroused 
him ;  he  had  moreover  through  his  own  fault,  just  reasons 
to  fear  them.  He  had  succeeded  in  establishing  his  do- 

"Book   12,  c.  7.          "Magn.  Chr.  Belg.  ap.  Pistor,  Tom.  Ill,  p.  260. 
"Annal  Eberhard,  apud.  Canis,  T.  I. 


420  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

minion  over  the  rights  of  the  lay  and  clerical  feudalities, 
but  he  was  not  able,  for  reasons  we  have  given,  to  dominate 
the  formidable  militia  of  the  Temple,  more  numerous  in 
France  than  in  any  other  country,  and  who,  intrenched  in 
their  privileges,  defied  the  royal  authority.  We  found 
bishops  and  barons  in  the  assemblies  of  Notre  Dame  and 
of  the  Louvre,  but  not  Templars ;  we  heard  everywhere,  in 
the  churches  and  monasteries,  the  cry  of  appeal  to  a  coun- 
cil, but  in  the  temples  of  the  holy  militia  all  was  silence; 
and  for  that  reason  we  must  conclude  that  the  Templars 
viewed  these  impieties  of  the  King  with  fierceness  and  in- 
dependence, hiding  their  hatred  and  contempt  within  their 
breasts,  and  perhaps  manifesting  it  secretly.  Philip 
feared  them,  but  to  the  fear  of  their  power  was  united  the 
desire  for  their  wealth.  He  determined  then  to  destroy 
with  the  appearance  of  a  legal  trial,  and  confiscate  their 
possession.  He  must  commence  through  the  Pope. 

Clement  forced  by  Philip  to  a  most  outrageous  and 
most  deadly  act  against  the  Roman  Pontificate,  that  is, 
the  condemnation  of  the  dead  Boniface,  resembled  those 
travellers,  who,  surrounded  by  brigands  in  a  dense  forest 
to  be  assassinated,  beseech,  and  dejiver  up  everything  in 
order  to  save  their  lives.  We  have  seen  all  that  he  had 
conceded  to  Philip  to  escape  from  his  importunate  de- 
mands against  Boniface.  Now,  the  cunning  prince,  avail- 
ing himself  of  the  sad  position  of  Clement,  and  knowing 
that  compared  to  the  monstrous  condemnation  of  a  sov- 
ereign Pontiff  all  concessions  would  appear  trifling,  mul- 
tiplied and  enlarged  his  demands  in  proportion  as  the 
council  of  Vienne  drew  near.  So,  whilst  asking,  he  nur- 
tured in  the  breast  of  the  unhappy  Pope  the  hope  of 
escaping  this  supreme  difficulty,  he  took  advantage  and 
proceeded  towards  the  object  he  had  in  view.  So  then 
at  the  difficult  meeting  at  Poitiers,  the  King  demanded  of 
the  Pope  the  abolition  of  the  sacred  militia  of  the  Temple. 
James  de  Molay  assisted  at  this  princely  meeting ;  he  came 
expressly  from  Cyprus.  This  Grand-Master  of  the  Tem- 
plars had  been  loaded  with  caresses  by  the  King  and  by 
Clement.  The  reason  for  the  suppression  of  the  Templars 
was  the  horrible  unnatural  crimes  of  which  the  Templars 

•John  Villani,  L.  8,  c.  92. 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VI II.  421 

were  accused,  and  which  were  disclosed  by  the  confessions 
of  the  priors  of  Montfaucon  in  Toulouse,  and  a  certain 
Naffodeus  of  Florence,  most  execrable  members  of  the 
Order.  Imprisoned  by  the  Grand-Master  on  account  of 
their  crimes,  they  offered,  in  order  to  gain  their  freedom, 
to  say  everything  that  would  please  Philip  the  Fair.81 
Clement  had  to  remain  in  suspense;  for  Philip  having  de- 
parted, the  Templars  appeared  before  him  and  entreated 
him  to  do  justice  to  their  order,  and  not  to  proceed  against 
them  except  according  to  the  usual  forms.  But  whilst  the 
Pope  was  wavering  between  Philip  and  the  Grand-Master, 
the  former  gained  his  point  in  an  expeditious  way  that 
was  characteristic  of  him.  On  the  13th  of  October  the 
knights  in  all  France  were  suddenly  imprisoned  and  all 
their  possessions  were  confiscated  by  the  officers  of  the 
King,  in  virtue  of  secret  orders  to  all  the  governors  of  the 
provinces.  If  someone  asked  if  the  knights  had  truly  been 
guilty  of  the  faults  for  which  they  had  been  suddenly 
punished,  we  would  not  be  able  to  answer,  as  the  proofs 
of  the  truth  of  the  faults  were  wanting  even  to  contem- 
poraries. The  punishment  preceded  the  trial,  and  the  judg- 
ment and  trial  which  followed,  did  not  deserve  the  name ; 
they  were  but  a  continuation  of  the  punishment,  namely 
torture.  The  torments  to  which  the  Templars  were  sub- 
jected, to  wring  from  them  a  monstrous  and  irrational 
confession,  show  that  the  judges  searched  eagerly  for 
grounds  of  conviction,  which  they  did  not  have,  and  con- 
sequently the  crimes  were  not  manifest.  We  leave  it  to 
anyone  whomsoever,  not  devoid  of  reason  and  humanity, 
to  judge  whether  the  dislocation  of  their  bones  would 
serve  to  manifest  and  prove  the  guilt  of  the  prisoners. 
Torture  was  always  the  most  stupid  debasement  of  the 
human  reasons  in  those  things  which  closely  concerned  the 
preservation  of  society,  that  is  to  say,  the  administration 
of  justice.  When  sufferings  triumphed,  that  was  nearly 
always,  over  the  courage  of  the  victim,  a  confession  of  the 
most  absurd  crimes  escaped  from  his  lips;  but  this  was 
not  a  confession  of  guilt,  but  rather  a  confession  of  that 
natural  instinct  in  man  to  repel  pain,  and  the  destructive 
causes  of  life.  Whence  a  confession  in  the  midst  of  suffer- 
ing, and  a  retraction  afterwards;  and  so  there  arose  on 
the  foundation  of  a  very  natural  contradiction,  a  judg- 


422  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

ment  contrary  to  nature  and  to  reason.  That  the  Tem- 
plars in  that  epoch  were  relax  in  discipline  and  wicked, 
we  shall  always  believe,  both  on  the  authority  of  the  his- 
torians who  recount  it,  and  from  rational  conjectures;  but 
that  they  were  guilty  of  all  the  crimes  of  which  they  were 
accused  by  Philip  the  Fair,  solely  because  such  was  the 
judgment  of  their  torturers,  we  shall  never  believe.  Du- 
puy  has  compiled  from  original  documents  the  history 
of  the  condemnation  of  the  Templars.82  In  reading  it 
one  can  get  a  knowledge  of  the  monstrosity  of  the  judg- 
ment, but  not  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused.  We  shall  have 
to  go  elsewhere  to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  last 
point.  We  shall  conclude,  by  saying  that  in  this  affair 
the  condemnation  was  just,  the  procedure  unjust,  the  pun- 
ishment too  severe. 

Philip  gave  to  his  brutal  procedure  a  certain  ecclesi- 
astical character,  by  charging  his  confessor,  Friar  William 
Humbert  of  Paris,  Grand  Inquisitor,  to  proceed  against 
the  Templars.  The  intervention  of  a  Friar  in  these  bar- 
barous trials,  and  the  sudden  confiscation  of  the  goods  of 
the  knights  grieved  Clement,  who  was  Pontiff,  and  who 
remembered  that  in  France  the  Church  enjoyed  immuni- 
ties by  virtue  of  which  it  was  forbidden  to  despoil,  to 
suppress,  and  to  torture  any  religious  society  without  the 
judgment  of  the  Pope.  He  complained  of  the  independ- 
ence which  Philip  assumed  regarding  the  Holy  See;83  but 
afterwards  either  because  the  spontaneous  confession  of 
their  faults,  made  in  his  presence  by  sixty-two  Tem- 
plars84 had  convinced  him;  or  because  he  did  not  wish 
Philip  to  deprive  him  of  his  jurisdiction;  or  because  he 
would  not  withstand  Philip's  noisy  insinuations,  he  sum- 
moned them  also,  and  began  an  inquiry  himself.85  He 
would  have  the  chiefs  of  the  sacred  militia  appear  before 
him,  but  they  were  so  infirm  that  they  could  not  ride  horse- 
back, by  reason  of  their  bones  being  displaced  on  the 
rack.86  In  consequence  he  deputed  three  Cardinals  to 

81  History  of  the  Condem.  of  the  Templars.     Paris.  1654,  n.  4. 

MDupuy.  Condemnation  of  Templars,  p.  11.         "Raynaldus,  1308.  5. — 

85Bulla  Clement,  apud.  Raynaldum:  "Clamosa  insinuatione  dicti 
Regis." 

88  Idem  num.  6.  "  Sed  quoniam  quidam  ex  eis  sic  infirmabantur  tune 

temporis,  quod  equitare  non  poterant,  nee  ad  nostram  praesentiam  quo- 
quomodo  adduci." 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  423 

examine  and  interrogate  them,  before  whom  they  con- 
fessed under  oath,  and  without  a  shadow  of  coercion,  to 
the  truth  of  their  faults.87  By  his  order,  the  bishops  them- 
selves proceeded  against  the  Templars,  and  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Treves,  Cologne,  and  Magdeburg  were  chosen 
to  take  charge  of  their  property. 

At  the  sound  of  so  many  royal  and  Papal  inquiries,  in 
the  face  of  the  indignation  which  the  iniquities  of  the 
Templars  excited,  who  could  restrain  the  zeal  of  the 
Christian  Princes?  They  all  followed  the  example  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  took  possession  of  the  rich  property 
of  the  Templars.  The  spoliation  would  have  been  a  small 
affair,  but  they  followed  it  by  executions  at  the  stake. 
Fifty-six  Templars  were  burned  by  a  slow  fire  outside  of 
Paris,  and  died  appealing  to  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Virgin  for  aid,  and  protesting  their  innocence  with 
shrieks  of  despair.  Clement  was  still  at  Poitiers.  The 
sacrifice  being  consummated,  he  retired  to  Bordeaux, 
afterwards  he  went  to  establish  his  residence  at  Avignon. 

If  Boniface  had  lived,  the  Templars  would  not  have 
been  burned.  In  fact  the  provincial  councils  which  Clem- 
ent and  Philip  had  convoked  in  France,  condemned  the 
Templars,  those  in  Germany,  Spain  and  Italy  absolved 
them  not  finding  them  guilty,  nor  were  they  put  to  tor- 
ture.88 

The  abolition  of  a  knightly  Order  could  have  been  ac- 
complished in  an  age,  in  which  the  intellectual  life  more 
mature  would  have  been  able  to  study  it  under  its  own  re- 
ligious covering.  In  the  beginning  of  the  XlVth  century 
this  was  a  premature  act.  Clement  did  not  act  as  a  Pon- 
tiff, but  as  a  prelate  reduced  to  slavery  by  Philip.  The 
funeral  piles  and  the  bones  of  the  knights  were  as  yet 
smoking,  but  Philip  still  pursued  Clement,  because  he 
wanted  to  see  the  bones  of  Boniface  also  in  the  flames. 
The  Pope  had  promised  the  King  to  treat  the  case  of 
Boniface  in  the  approaching  Council  of  Vienne,  but  this 
was  for  Philip  too  long  a  delay;  he  pressed  the  Pope  so 
hard  that  he  was  forced  to  begin  the  proceedings.  There- 
fore on  September  15th  he  wrote  from  Avignon  for  the 
certainty  of  the  present,  and  the  memory  of  posterity,  an 

"  Idem.  7.  "  Libere  ac  sponte,  absque  coactione  qualibet  et  timore 
deposuerunt."  "Labbe.  Concil.  Gene.  Tom.  XI,  p.  II,  p.  1533. 


424  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

act  in  which  we  read  these  words : 89  "  From  the  time  that 
"  we  assumed  the  Supreme  Apostolate,  our  very  dear  son 
"  in  Jesus  Christ,  Philip  King  of  France,  urged  by  his 
"  zeal,  (as  we  believe  and  as  he  has  shown)  for  the  ortho- 
"  dox  faith 90  and  piety,  has  entreated  us  at  Lyons  and 
"  Poitiers,  to  lend  ear  to  Louis  of  Evreux,  Guy  Count  of 
"  Saint  Paul,  John  Count  of  Dreux,  and  William,  who 
"  declared  that  Pope  Boniface  died  tainted  with  heresy, 
"  and  that  they  have  the  proof,  in  order  that  we  may  con- 
"  demn  legally  the  memory  of  this  Pontiff,  we  find  it  diffi- 
"  cult  to  believe  that  Boniface  was  a  heretic,  born  of  a 
"  Catholic  family,  raised  in  the  Roman  Court,  sent  by 
"  Popes  Martin  and  Adrian  as  legate  to  France  and  Eng- 
"  land,  honored  with  the  office  of  advocate  and  notary  of 
"  the  same  court,  created  Cardinal,  and  finally  raised  to 
"  the  sovereign  Pontificate.  Yet  as  heresy  is  the  most 
"  detestable  of  crimes,  and  the  accusation  which  is  made 
"  against  anyone  should  not  rest  without  an  examination, 
"  especially  when  the  dignity  of  the  accused  renders  the 
"  fault  most  grievous,  we  have  resolved,  at  the  instance 
"  of  the  King,  and  in  the  interest  of  the  orthodox  faith,  to 
11  give  a  hearing  to  the  aforesaid  accusers.  We  fix  the 
"  coming  Lent  as  the  time  within  which  they  should  ap- 
"  pear  before  us,  the  King  and  the  said  lords  who  know 
"  so  much  about  the  actions  of  Boniface." 

The  memory  of  a  Pontiff  dragged  before  the  tribunal  of 
another  Pontiff,  as  that  of  a  heretic,  was  a  thing  unheard 
of;  for  that  reason,  at  this  publication  of  the  Pope,  all 
Christendom  was  seized  with  a  just  horror.  The  Kings 
of  Castile  and  Aragon  dispatched  legates  to  Clement, 
complaining  of  the  scandal  given  to  the  faithful  by  imput- 
ing heresy  to  a  sovereign  Pontiff.91  In  Germany,  in  Bel- 
gium and  in  Italy  a  cry  of  execration  was  raised  against 
the  outrages  of  Philip.92  It  was  impossible,  however,  to 
break  the  chains  which  bound  Clement.  He  named  the 
commissioners  to  receive  the  deposition,  and  commit  to 
public  writing  that  which  the  witnesses  related  against 
Boniface ; 93  the  witnesses  were  guaranteed  against  every 

"•Raynaldus,  1309.  2. 

90 "  Zelo  ut   credimus   et   ipse  promebat,   fidei   orthodoxae   et   devotionia 
accensus  credensque  ecclesiae  statuii  plurium  expedite."     91  Rg.  1310.-37. 
M  Surita  Annal.  Book  5,  chap.  87.        "*  Albert  Mussatus,  Book  1,  c.  3. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  '425 

offence  or  obstacle  on  the  part  of  their  adversaries,94  after 
which  the  scandalous  debates  began.  The  accusers  and 
defenders  of  Boniface  appeared  before  Clement  seated  in 
full  consistory.  Philip,  considering  himself  dishonored 
if  he  appeared  there  as  an  accuser,  (the  Pope  had  sum- 
moned the  princes  also)  refused  to  appear,  and  obtained 
from  Clement  a  Bull  in  which  it  was  declared  that  the 
King  was  not  considered  a  party  in  this  affair,  but  only  a 
promoter  of  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of  the 
Church.95  After  his  example,  Louis  Count  of  Evreux, 
Guy  of  St.  Paul,  and  John,  Count  of  Dreux,  exempted 
themselves  from  attending.  Only  Nogaret,  William  di 
Plasian,  Peter  Galard,  Peter  di  Blanase,  appeared  as 
representatives  of  the  king,  with  the  Archbishop  of  Saint- 
Brieux,  Alain  de  Lamballe,  a  clerk  of  the  King.  These 
were  the  accusers.  The  defenders  were  Francis,  son  of 
the  Count  Peter  Gaetani;  Theobald,  son  of  Vernazzo,  a 
gentleman  of  Anagni,  nephew  of  Boniface;  Gotto  of  Rim- 
ini; Baldred  Biseth;  Thomas  Murror;  James  of  Modena; 
Blaise  of  Piperni;  Crescentius  of  Palliano;  Nicholas  of 
Veroli;  James  of  Firmineto;  Conrad  of  Spoleto,  all  doc- 
tors in  law.  The  two  parties  were  accompanied  by  a  nu- 
merous escort  of  men-at-arms.  They  mutually  feared 
each  other.96  The  proceedings  opened  on  March  16th. 
We  shall  speak  briefly  of  the  accusations,  and  the  final 
sentence,  then,  of  the  manner  in  which  the  affair  ended. 
For  if  we  would  descend  to  particulars,  the  torture  to 
which  Clement  was  put,  and  the  cruelties  that  entered  into 
trials  at  this  epoch,  would  disgust  the  reader,  without  any 
benefit  to  the  truth  of  history.97 

The  numerous  accusation  were  reduced  to  two  chiefly: 
heresy,  and  enmity  to  Philip  the  Fair.  The  first  was 
clearly  expressed  in  these  words:  Boniface  had  been  an 
atheist,  and  guilty  of  all  the  actions,  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  this  monstrous  error.  The  other  had  been 
already  expressed  by  the  Constitutions  published  by  Boni- 
face against  Philip  the  Fair.  Many  were  the  witnesses  of 
the  crimes  of  Boniface;  and  to  consider  only  those  who 
related  that  Boniface,  in  the  year  of  the  jubilee,  denied 

"Idem  38.  "Baillet.  Demeles,  282.  *  Baillet,  289. 

"  See  in  Dupuy  the  original  acts  of  this  trial. 


426  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

publicly,  in  the  presence  of  the  ambassadors  of  Lucca,  of 
Florence,  and  of  Bologna,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
future  dissolution  of  the  world,  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,98  clearly  show  how  the  gold  of  the  Templars 
dropped  into  the  hands  of  these  witnesses.  If  Boniface 
was  jealous  of  power,  and  if  this  power  was  founded  en- 
tirely on  Religion,  no  one  will  ever  believe  that  he  would 
shake  this  foundation.  We  do  not  find  in  the  statement 
of  the  facts  of  Anagni  that  there  was  any  accusation  of 
madness  against  Boniface. 

The  two  parties  contended  before  Clement  till  the  win- 
ter of  the  following  year  1311.  The  Pope  was  wearied, 
and  began  to  fear  the  anger  of  the  defenders  of  Boniface ; 
he  entreated  the  King  to  free  him  from  this  anguish,  and 
to  submit  to  his  private  judgment  the  conclusion  of  this 
affair ;  and  to  ensure  success  he  interposed  the  good  offices 
of  Charles  of  Valois.  Philip  still  refused  to  yield;  but 
finally,  both  by  the  influence  of  Valois,  his  brother,  which 
was  very  powerful  over  him,  and  because  the  greater  part 
of  the  noblemen  of  the  kingdom  were  tired  of  these  scan- 
dals and  wanted  them  ended,  he  yielded  to  the  entreaties 
of  the  Pope.  Nevertheless  it  must  not  be  passed  over  in 
silence  that  the  despair  of  obtaining  a  sentence  which 
would  declare  the  truth  of  all  the  faults  imputed  to  Boni- 
face, was  also  a  factor  in  this  determination.  The  absence 
of  proofs  and  the  disposition  of  the  judges  made  him  fore- 
bode the  infamy  due  the  calumniators.  This  presenti- 
ment had  already  entered  French  minds,  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  Valois  demanded  the  blood  of  Enguerrand  of 
Marigny,  whom  he  accused  of  being  the  cause  of  the  differ- 
ences that  arose  between  Boniface  and  the  King,  and  con- 
sequently of  the  disgraceful  stain  thus  cast  on  the  royal 
name."  Both  parties  became  silent;  Clement  had  all  the 
evidence  of  the  trial  collected,  so  as  to  be  preserved  in  the 
Vatican  Archives,  showing  thereby  that  he  did  not  want 
to  desist  from  that  inquiry,  in  which  his  dignity  would 
lose  not  a  little  by  not  concluding  an  affair  undertaken 
with  so  much  solemnity.  He  afterwards  wrote  a  Bull,  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  given  by  Rinaldus,  and  over 
which  a  faithful  Catholic  can  not  cast  his  eyes  without 

MDupuy,  pages  550,  568,  570. 

•*  Paulus  Emil.   in   Lud.   Hutino  apud.   Raynaldum,   1311,   30. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  42J 

shedding  tears,  on  seeing  there  the  usurpation  of  a  prince 
triumphing  over  the  inviolable  power  of  the  Church.100 

Philip  the  Fair  is  represented  in  this  Bull  as  the  great- 
est defender  the  Church  ever  had ;  and  all  his  acts  against 
Boniface  proceeded  from  sincere,  pure  and  just  zeal,  and 
from  the  fervor  of  his  Catholic  faith.  He  was  innocent  of 
all  the  outrages  at  Anagni,  because  Nogaret  had  said  so. 
He  praised  the  King,  beyond  all  expression,  for  his  royal 
mildness,  his  devotion,  and  his  respect,  and  to  discharge 
his  obligations  to  him,  he  abrogated  all  the  suspensions  of 
privileges,  censures  and  other  Papal  constitutions  prom- 
ulgated after  November  1st,  1300,  by  Boniface,  and  by 
Benedict  XI,  which  could  displease  his  Majesty.  Finally 
Clement  ordered  that  all  these  Bulls  be  stricken  from  the 
registry  of  Papal  letters;  that  no  one  should  retain  copies 
of  them,  not  even  the  notaries  and  the  judges,  under  pain 
of  excommunication,  and  that  all  copies  should  be  burned. 
The  two  constitutions  "  Unam  Sanctam "  and  "  Rem 
novam "  were  modified,  with  this  declaration  that  they 
would  have  the  force  of  law  in  all  Christendom,  except  in 
France,  in  which  country  things  would  remain  as  they 
were  before  the  publication  of  these  two  decretals  of  Boni- 
face. He  reserved  to  himself,  for  four  months,  the  ex- 
amination of  the  witnesses,  or  the  accusers  of  Boniface, 
and  his  defenders,  provided  it  did  not  contain  anything 
which  concerned  the  King  and  all  France. 

The  pages  of  the  registry  upon  which  were  inscribed 
the  detested  documents  were  carefully  erased,  but  all  of 
the  copies  were  not  destroyed;  some  of  them  have  come 
down  to  us.101 

Philip  being  declared  innocent,  and  entirely  contented, 
there  remained  Nogaret,  and  with  him  all  those  who  had 
contributed  to  the  imprisonment  of  Boniface,  to  the  cap- 
ture of  his  place,  and  the  pillage  of  his  treasures;  they 
were  Reginald  of  Supino,  Thomas  of  Morolo,  Robert-Peter 
of  Gennazzano,  Stephen  Adenolfo,  Nicholas  Giffred 
Bussa,  Orlando  and  Peter  of  Luparia,  Sciarra  Colonna, 
John  of  Landolfo,  Godfrey  and  John  of  Ceccano,  Maximus 
of  Treves,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Anagni  who  had  given 
them  assistance.  The  conscience  of  Clement  had  a  repug- 

100  See  Document  2.  T.  m  See  Document  2.  U. 


428  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

nance  to  releasing  from  censures  those  men  who  merited 
even  additional  punishments;  in  fact  he  excluded  them 
from  the  pardon.102  But  Philip  did  not  want  even  these 
wretched  men  punished.  An  accusing  witness,  their 
punishment  would  always  remind  him  of  what  he  himself 
had  merited,  and  which  he  escaped  only  by  violence.  He 
encompassed  Clement  to  secure  their  pardon,  and  he 
granted  it  because  of  their  love  for  the  King  of  France, 
and  because  they  had  sworn  that  they  had  not  taken  part 
in  the  events  of  Anagni  with  any  bad  intentions.  Nogaret 
with  hands  joined  received  pardon  as  a  safeguard,  as  none 
knew  whether  he  was  a  good  or  bad  Christian,  nor  whether 
or  not  he  had  overstepped  the  orders  of  Philip  in  relation 
to  Boniface.  However  Clement  imposed  on  him  certain 
penances  of  which  he  was  the  only  witness,  such  as  to  visit 
the  most  famous  sanctuaries  of  France,  that  of  St.  James 
of  Compostella,  and  to  go  and  fight  in  the  Holy  Land  with 
the  first  expedition  setting  out,  and  stay  there  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.103 

Thus  the  proceedings  at  Avignon  ended.  There  was  no 
sentence  that  declared  Boniface  to  have  been  heretical 
and  simoniacal ;  but  Philip  had  succeeded  in  his  design  of 
defaming  his  memory.  The  shameful  accusations  which 
were  prolonged  for  seven  months;  the  bought  testimony 
sufficed  to  accredit  and  sustain  the  bad  reports  circulated 
about  that  Pontiff,  whom  the  King  wished  to  cover  with 
disgrace  in  order  to  shield  himself.  The  slowness  of  the 
trial  proved  clearly  how  repugnant  were  these  scandals  to 
Clement,  but  it  could  not  palliate  the  deadly  wound  it 
gave  to  the  Pontificial  dignity.  From  the  summit  of  the 
high  throne  on  which  he  was  seated,  he  dominated  all  the 
faithful;  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  sovereign  Teacher  of  jus- 
tice, he  knew  full  well  that  among  the  gems  of  the  tiara 
there  protruded  the  thorns  of  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 
His  mission  was  supernatural,  the  means  to  accomplish 
it  supernatural;  he  should,  if  he  wished  to  be  Pope,  arm 
himself  with  supernatural  courage.  His  vestments,  his 
body,  his  liberty,  could  fall  into  the  power  of  tyrants,  but 
his  soul  never  could.  But  alas !  he  was  at  Avignon  and  to 
fortify  himself  he  had  not  even  the  sight  of  the  tomb  of 

1MRaynaldus,  1300,  50.  10*  Raynaldus,  ibidem. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  429 

those,  who  knew  how  to  transport  the  church  of  Golgotha 
to  the  Capitol  by  the  double  virtue  of  the  apostolate  and 
of  martyrdom. 

These  things  should  have  powerfully  agitated  the  soul 
of  Clement;  and  although  the  slavery  to  which  Philip  had 
reduced  him  hindered  him  from  acting  differently,  never- 
theless he  nourished  within  the  thought  of  repairing  what 
was  done,  as  soon  as  he  was  a  little  more  free.  In  the  year 
1307  he  had  intimated  the  convocation  of  an  Ecumenical 
Council  in  the  Bull  Regnans  in  Coelis,  written  on  August 
12th,104  to  be  held  at  Vienne  in  Dauphiny  in  October, 
1309.  Philip  was  anxious  for  this  council  in  order  to 
present  his  appeal  to  it,  and  the  accusations  that  were  ex- 
amined at  Avignon.  Clement  also  desired  it,  both  because 
the  Church  needed  to  be  reformed  in  its  members,  and 
because  his  own  conscience  needed  to  be  quieted  concern- 
ing Boniface,  by  a  final  judgment,  emanating  freely  and 
unrestrained  from  the  tribunal  of  last  resort.  Having 
then  renewed  the  convocation  of  the  council,  Clement  re- 
paired to  Vienne  in  the  middle  of  September,  1311.  A 
large  number  of  Bishops,  about  300,  answered  the  call ; 105 
they  were  men  eminent  in  learning  and  virtue.  The  Pope 
in  a  discourse  made  known  the  three  principal  reasons  for 
convening  the  prelates  namely;  the  judgment  of  the  Tem- 
plars, affairs  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  restoration  of  ec- 
clesiastical discipline.  He  said  nothing  about  Boniface, 
probably  so  as  not  to  give  umbrage  to  Philip,  but  he  kept 
him  in  mind.  Pagi  does  not  believe  that  the  memory  of 
Boniface  106  was  discussed  in  this  council,  both  because 
that  affair  had  already  been  ended  in  Avignon,  and  be- 
cause fully  six  historians  of  the  life  of  Boniface  say  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  the  renewed  examination.  However  in 
spite  of  their  silence,  and  although  we  cannot  be  enlight- 
ened by  the  acts  of  that  Council,  which  have  not  come 
down  to  us,  yet  we  cannot  without  reason  deny  the  testi- 
mony of  Villani,107  St.  Antoninus,  Friar  Francis  Pipino  108 
and  others.  The  cause  of  Boniface  was  agitated,  and  the 
validity  of  his  election  by  reason  of  the  valid  abdication 
of  Celestine  V.  Cardinals  Richard  of  Siena,  Peter  of 

104  Raynaldus,   1307.  "•  Villani  lib.  9,  c.  22. 

1MBrev.  Rom.  Pontiff.  m  Villani  ib. 

"•Chron.  S.  R.  I.  T.  t.  9. 


430  HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

Spain,  and  Francis  Gaetani,  gloriously  refuted  the  charges 
of  heresy.  The  latter  especially  undertook  to  defend  him 
in  matters  concerning  the  Colonnas.  There  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  speech  of  defence  of  Gaetani  published 
by  Paterini  109  from  the  Vatican  Archives,  is  precisely  the 
same  one  he  delivered  in  the  council  of  Vienne.  In  spite 
of  the  clamors  of  Philip,  the  Bishops,  not  being  in  France, 
decided  that  Boniface  had  been  a  legitimate  Pope,  and 
pure  in  his  faith.110  Public  indignation  against  the  anger 
of  a  prince  trying  to  tarnish  the  memory  of  a  magnani- 
mous Pontiff  began  to  appear.  We  have  a  splendid  proof 
of  it  in  the  action  of  two  Catalonian  knights,  whose  names 
Villani  has  preserved  for  us,  Caroccio  and  William 
d'Ebule.  When  the  cardinal  defenders  had  fought  with 
the  arms  of  reason,  these  brave  and  valiant  knights,  de- 
sirous of  defending  the  memory  and  innocence  of  Boni- 
face by  a  trial  of  arms,  appeared  before  Philip  challeng- 
ing to  a  single  combat  two  of  the  enemies  of  Boniface;  An 
expression  of  a  noble  and  a  generous  devotion !  It  was  as 
it  were  the  discharge  of  a  holy  debt  which  the  knightly 
spirit  paid  to  the  memory  of  a  Pope,  who  was  the  last 
prop  of  that  Roman  Pontificate  which  excited  in  the  gen- 
erations the  life  of  the  heart,  the  one  and  only  source  of 
the  sentiments  of  loyalty,  honor  and  glory.  The  coura- 
geous defence  of  the  cardinals,  the  definition  of  the  coun- 
cil, and  the  bravery  of  the  knights,  which  savored  of  the 
ancient,  revealed  to  Philip  and  his  ministers  all  the  de- 
formity of  their  hearts  which  they  had  so  much  dishon- 
ored by  the  infamy  of  calumnies  and  perjuries.  The 
King  and  his  ministers,  says  Villani,  were  confused.  But 
the  confusion  of  the  wicked,  especially  when  they  are 
powerful,  is  never  a  sign  of  repentance,  but  rather  the 

109  Menu  Praenes.  Monu.  53. 

110  Villani  lib.  29,  22.    "  It  was  declared  in  this  council  that  Pope  Boni- 
face had  been  a  Catholic,  and  innocent  of  the  crime  of  heresy  of  which 
the  King  of  France  accused  him ;  and  this  for  many  reasons  advanced,  in 
presence  of  the  King  and  his  counsel  by  Cardinal  Richard  of  Siena." 

St.  Antoninus.  Page  3,  tit.  21,  c.  3:  "Cum  Clemens  de  delenda  memoria 
Bonifacii  ex  ecclesia,  cum  praelatis  Concilii  tractaret,  quia  rex  ilium 
haereticum  fuisse  probare  intendebat,  Concilium  nullo  modo  assentiri 
voluit,  sed  contrarium  declaravit,  scilicet  ilium  fuisse  catholicum,  et  in- 
dubitatum  pontificem." 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE   VIII.  43! 

indication  of  a  fury  which  abates  its  force,  and  is  only  to 
be  feared  the  more. 

At  last  the  bones  of  the  wearied  Boniface  were  at  rest. 
If  the  ignorance  and  the  partisanship  of  the  chroniclers 
and  the  historians  defiled  the  stone  of  his  sepulchre  by 
new  injuries,  still  the  truth  was  not  to  be  so  subjected  by 
tyrants,  that  its  free  and  sincere  lovers  could  not  gain  it. 
It  rejoices  us  to  think  that  the  first  one  who  dared  to  ap- 
proach Boniface  with  a  mind  free  from  prejudice,  to  re- 
count his  life,  was  a  Benedictine,  John  Boss  who  lived  in 
the  XVI  century.  He  an  Englishman  saw  in  Boniface  a 
calumniated  Pontiff;  we  Italian,  have  seen  more  in  Boni- 
face, the  magnanimous  Italian  trampled  under  foot  by 
that  fate,  which  disturbs  this  land,  where  not  even  the 
memory  of  its  old  grandeurs  remains  inviolate. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  things  done  by  men  on  earth,  we 
shall  now  say  a  word  on  what  God  did  in  Heaven.  Philip 
was  secure  on  his  throne,  and  the  fear  of  the  punishments, 
which  for  his  crimes  against  Boniface  could  have  been  in- 
flicted on  him  and  his  children  by  the  Roman  See,  was  dis- 
sipated by  the  indulgent  measures  of  Clement,  who,  in  the 
council  of  Vienne,  had  forbidden  him  or  any  of  his  de- 
scendants to  be  disturbed,  on  account  of  that  affair.  But 
the  trial  of  a  dead  Pontiff,  and  that  of  the  sacred  militia 
of  the  Temple,  conducted  by  torture,  and  ended  by  the 
torments  of  so  many  men  burned  at  the  stake,  left  in  his 
mind  those  frightful  images,  which  in  a  malefactor,  though 
unpunished,  take  the  place  of  human  justice.  When  James 
Molay,  Grand-Master  of  the  Templars  condemned  to  death 
by  fire,  mounted  the  funeral  pile  with  the  aspect  of  a  man 
who  is  no  longer  of  this  world,  but  sees  and  lives  in  the 
next,  he  appealed  from  the  judgment  of  men  to  the  true 
and  living  God  who  is  in  Heaven,  and  summoned  to  his 
tribunal  Clement  and  Philip,  to  reply,  at  the  end  of  a 
year  and  a  day,  to  his  accusations.  This  fact  is  recounted, 
not  only  by  Ferretus,111  but  also  by  Godfrey  of  Paris,  an 
eyewitness.112  The  constancy  with  which  this  man  suf- 
fered death ;  his  prayer  with  joined  hands ;  the  petition  he 
made  that  his  face  be  turned  towards  the  Virgin  Mary, 

111 S.  R.  I.  T.  IX,  col.  1017,  1018. 

""Chron.  de  Godofsoide,  Paris,  published  by  M.  Buchon,  1827. 


'432  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

from  whom  Jesus  Christ  was  born,113  that  is  to  say, 
towards  the  church  of  Notre  Dame;  and  this  formidable 
appeal,  considering  the  age  in  which  these  things  hap- 
pened, must  have  sent  a  shock  of  terror  into  the  souls  of 
the  spectators,  and  especially  that  of  Philip.114  Super- 
stition caused  the  crimes  true  or  false  of  the  Templars  to 
be  considered  worthy  of  such  cruel  punishment;  but  re- 
ligion still  spoke  in  the  venerable  virtue  of  Molay,  in  his 
profession  of  a  sacred  knight,  and  in  his  words  which  dis- 
closed a  pure  soul.  If  then  to  those  feelings  of  a  dis- 
turbed heart  of  the  King  there  was  joined  a  secret  remorse 
of  conscience,  one  can  easily  conjecture  that  the  spectres 
of  the  unhappy  Templars  must  have  haunted  the  palace  of 
Philip.  Heaven  seemed  to  answer  the  appeal  of  Molay. 
He  had  expired  on  March  llth,  1314,  in  the  midst  of 
flames  with  the  chief  knights  of  the  sacred  militia.  Forty 
days  afterwards  Pope  Clement  passed  out  of  this  life  to 
the  next.  At  this  sad  news  Philip  must  have  thought  of 
the  Grand-Master,  and  must  have  felt  the  ground  giving 
way  under  him.  In  the  meanwhile  the  people  impov- 
erished by  taxes,  and  by  the  falsification  of  the  money, 
which  still  continued,  became  riotous;  and  nobles  for  the 
same  reasons  were  excited  and  besides  by  reason  of  their 
diminished  power;  from  without  the  Flemings  were  em- 
boldened by  a  truce  very  disgraceful  to  France;  in  fine  a 
cry  of  malediction  and  horror  was  raised  against  him  for 
the  blood  which  superstition  and  cruelty  had  caused  to 
flow  in  torrents  throughout  the  kingdom.115  The  mind  of 
the  unfortunate  prince  was  obscured.  But  the  chastise- 
ment was  but  beginning;  the  infamy  of  his  own  family  yet 
awaited  him.  True  or  false  as  it  might  have  been,  the 
adulteries  of  the  wives  of  his  three  sons  were  revealed  to 
him.  The  defilement  of  the  princely  beds  filled  him  with 
an  incredible  rage,  the  last  of  his  life.  Public  and  solemn 
judgments  displayed  to  the  face  of  the  world  the  ignominy 
of  his  race ;  and  a  great  multitude  of  victims  were  cruelly 

***  (Idem) "et  je  TOUS  prie 

Que  devers  la  Vierge  Marie 

Dont  notre   Seignor   Christ  fust  nez 

Mon  visage  vous  me  tornez." 
^Contin.  William  Xangi.,  p.  67. 
"•Sismondi.     Hist  of  France,  T.  6,  176,  177. 


EPISCOPAL    CHAIR    IX    THE    CATHEDRAL    OF    ANAGXI. 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  433 

immolated  by  fire  and  sword  to  his  rage  and  to  the  dis- 
grace of  his  children.  The  fear  of  the  dead,  the  suspicions 
of  the  living,  the  infamy  of  his  children  broke  his  spirit; 
struck  by  that  anathema  which  God  plants  secretly  in 
certain  hearts,  and  which  he  afterwards  conceals  by  the 
purple,  his  soul  in  pain  and  restless,  reacted  on  his  body, 
and  silently  consumed  it.  Philip  fell  ill  in  the  month  of 
November,  eight  months  after  the  appeal  of  the  Grand- 
Master.  Neither  wound,  nor  fever  consumed  him;  in  ap- 
pearance he  seemed  healthy;  something  was  gnawing  at 
his  vitals  with  deadly  effect;  everybody  was  astounded, 
and  knew  not  what  to  say.  Philip  died  of  that  death  of 
the  spirit,  caused  by  certain  mysterious  chastisements 
rarely  dealt  out  by  Heaven ! 116 

Although  the  Ponitfical  acts  which  were  displeasing  to 
Philip,  had  been  erased  and  burned,  that  malediction  pro- 
nounced by  the  holy  Pope  Benedict  against  Anagni,  struck 
with  terrible  force  that  unfortunate  town,  guilty  of  so 
great  a  treason.  Leander  of  Bologna  m  passing  there  in 
1616  found  it  all  in  ruins,  and  in  such  squalor  as  to  strike 
the  heart  with  pity.  Amid  this  great  scene  of  desolation, 
the  remains  of  the  palace  where  Boniface  had  dwelt,  and 
in  which  he  had  been  in  imprisoned  by  the  treason  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Anagni,  still  were  standing  as  accusing 
witnesses  of  the  crimes  they  had  seen,  and  as  guardians, 
so  to  speak,  of  these  ruins.  The  traveller  interrogated 
some  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  Anagni  as  to  the  cause 
of  this  devastation,  and  they  told  him  that,  from  the  time 
of  the  captivity  of  Boniface,  they  had  had  nothing  but 
misfortunes  to  deplore.  Plagues,  famine,  the  exile  of  her 
citizens  had  diminished  the  number  of  inhabitants;  the 
walls  had  fallen  by  fire  and  sword  during  civil  wars.  The 
country  had  been  plunged  into  this  abyss  of  evils  by  her 
own  children.  And  continuing  they  said  that,  dismayed 
by  the  lasting  calamities,  and  almost  giving  up  hope,  the 

118 "  Philippus  rex  Franciae  diuturna  detentus  infinnitate,  cujus  causa 
medicis  erat  incognita,  non  solura  ipsis  et  aliia  multis  multi  stuporis 
materiam  et  admirationis  inducit:  praesertim  cum  infirmitatis  aut  mortis 
periculum  nee  pulsus  ostenderet  nee  urina.  Tandem  apud  fontem  Blundi, 
unde  et  oriundus.  se  deferri  praecepit."  Contin.  Chron.  Nangii  ap.  Achery, 
Tom.  Ill,  p.  69. 

117  See  Ciacconio  for  the  year  1294,  Col.  302. 


434  HISTORY    OF   POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

few  remaining  citizens  had  met  in  counsel  to  discover  the 
cause  of  this  continual  misfortune;  and  they  all  agreed 
that  it  was  the  wickedness  of  their  forefathers  towards 
Pope  Boniface  VIII.  And  so  they  concluded  to  entreat 
Pope  Clement  VII  to  send  them  a  bishop  to  absolve  them 
again,  and  in  the  meantime  the  people  would  pray  and  im- 
plore divine  mercy.  So  whilst  in  France  there  was  placed 
on  the  head  of  Philip  a  stone,  upon  which  there  could  not 
be  recorded  what  kind  of  a  death  had  brought  him  to  the 
tomb,  a  cloud  of  mysterious  and  long-enduring  calamities 
gathered  over  unhappy  Anagni. 

Our  story  is  now  at  length  drawing  to  a  close,  and  it  is 
time  to  return  at  the  end,  to  that  which  was  said  in  the 
beginning.  We  have  said,  the  reader  will  remember,  that 
the  Pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII  was  a  generating  fact  so 
personified  by  this  Pope,  that  after  his  fall  the  principle 
defended  by  him  could  no  longer  offer  resistance  to  the 
contrary  principle,  but  rather  had  to  confess  itself  con- 
quered, and  to  yield  little  by  little  to  the  victor.  We  come 
to  the  sad  demonstration  of  what  has  been  affirmed;  and 
seated  on  that  sepulchre  which  still  resounds  with  that 
divine  sentence,  "  every  creature  is  subject  to  the  Roman 
Pontiff"  let  us  raise  the  mind  to  the  consideration  of  the 
consequences  which  proceeded  only  too  rapidly  from  the 
failure  of  the  efforts  of  Boniface  and  the  victory  of  his 
enemies.  Because  the  present  generation  is  taught  by  the 
past,  it  will  be  permitted  to  hope,  if  not  for  us,  at  least  for 
posterity,  a  future  equipment  of  civil  happiness  founded 
on  a  just  conciliation  of  contrary  principles  which  dis- 
pute the  mastery  of  the  world.  This  conciliation  is  not  in 
the  sword  of  the  conqueror,  nor  hidden  in  the  mutable 
wisdom  of  human  legislators,  but  is  a  thing  of  God  the 
secret  of  which  rests  in  the  bosom  of  the  Vicar,  where 
God  himself  deposited  it. 

Some  Pontiffs  have  been  persecuted,  and  tortured  for 
the  faith,  the  fury  of  the  people  or  the  tyranny  of  Chris- 
tian Kings  have  made  others  suffer  the  tribulation  and 
sorrows  of  exile ;  not  one  had  been  judged  and  condemned. 
The  first  one  to  be  put  to  this  sad  ordeal  was  Boniface. 
The  first  and  the  second  in  persecution  and  in  blood  ob- 
tained the  palm  of  martyrdom,  and  were  raised  up  to 
Heaven  from  the  throne  on  which  they  sat.  Boniface  did 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  435 

not  find  even  compassion  in  his  ignominy;  lie  descended 
from  his  throne,  and  with  him  the  Pontificate,  or  rather 
he  was  dragged  from  it  and  led  into  the  Sanhedrin  of  law- 
yers and  sophists,  to  force  him  like  Jesus  Christ  to  tell 
what  truth  is.  All  classes  of  believers  in  the  Gospel  once 
reverently  stopped  at  the  doors  of  the  Church,  and  they 
did  not  dare  to  ask  how  far  their  limits  extended,  what 
was  the  book  of  their  rights,  nor  of  what  temper  was  the 
sceptre  he  carried  in  hand.  But  Boniface  dead,  they  did 
not  merely  enter  into  the  sanctuary  of  God,  they  rather 
invaded  it,  and  they  pounced  upon  the  Church  to  show 
her  that  the  limits  of  her  inheritance  were  no  longer  the 
limits  of  the  earth,  but  precisely  those  that  men  marked 
out  accordingly  to  their  will  around  her ;  that  her  code  of 
laws  were  obsolete,  powerless,  and  had  no  light  or  value 
except  from  the  will  of  men ;  in  fine  this  sceptre  by  whose 
touch  human  societies  had  been  constituted  and  the 
throne  of  a  hundred  kings  had  been  raised  and  cast  down, 
was  only  spiritual,  purely  spiritual.  We  come  now  to 
show  how  this  limitation  of  the  liberty  or  rather  the  life 
of  the  Church  came  about. 

Heaven  wished  to  punish  the  sacrilege  of  Anagni,  and 
to  teach  posterity  by  the  severity  and  bitterness  of  the 
chastisements.  Although  the  principal  actors  in  this 
frightful  drama,  Philip  and  his  satellites,  were  French, 
yet  Sciarra  Colonna,  and  the  traitors  of  the  Campagna 
who  had  taken  part  in  it,  were  Italian,  and  Anagni  was 
an  Italian  city.  For  this  reason  then  Philip  having  been 
punished  in  his  family,  which  became  extinct,  Italy  must, 
as  the  particular  seat  of  the  Pontificate,  submit  to  a  more 
rigorous  chastisement,  and  be  punished  wherein  it  had 
sinned.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  world  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter  was  seen  transferred  from  Rome  to  Avignon, 
a  town  in  Provence.  This  removal  was  rendered  necessary 
not  by  an  incursion  of  barbarians,  nor  by  the  ravages  of 
plagues  or  wars,  but  it  was  the  work  of  an  invisible  hand, 
which  disconcerts  the  mind  by  an  occurrence  the  causes 
and  the  meaning  of  wrhich  it  does  not  perceive.  The  terror 
excited  by  the  violent  acts  of  Philip  and  those  of  the 
Orsini  family,  acts  which  hastened  the  death  of  a  gener- 
ous Pope,  the  expectation  of  the  future  prevented  the 
Romans  from  perceiving  all  the  evils  that  were  engen- 


436  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

dered  by  the  prolonged  exile  of  Clement  V  in  France,  due 
to  Philip  the  Fair.  The  Pontifical  palace  was  silent  and 
deserted;  the  Basilica  of  the  Apostles  was  bereft  of  its 
Pontiff;  and  that  virtue,  which  rose  from  their  sepulchres, 
and  from  the  sacred  sand  of  the  amphitheatre,  returned 
to  disappear  through  bereavement,  not  finding  the  heart 
to  which  it  had  been  united  for  thirteen  centuries.  Borne 
was  like  a  conquered  city  for  the  Roman  patriciate,  who, 
not  feeling  any  longer  the  weight  of  the  hand  of  Boniface 
on  their  heads,  became  possessed  of  excessive  pride,  with- 
out ever  ennobling  it  by  a  thought  of  honest  ambition. 
The  clergy  were  many,  but  poor;  the  people  employed 
by  the  patricians  in  dishonorable  work,  showed  all  the 
evils  of  want  of  government.  Cardinal  Napoleon  Orsini, 
in  1314  after  the  death  of  Clement  V,  wrote  some  letters 
to  Philip  the  Fair,  which  describe  to  us  sufficiently  the 
conditions  of  Rome.118  He  and  his  Italian  colleagues  pur- 
sued at  Carpentras  with  hostile  cries,  and  threatened  with 
daggers  in  the  hands  of  Gascons  who  shouted:  "Death 
to  the  Italian  Cardinals,  Moriantur  Cardinales  Italici,"  119 
experienced  what  it  was  to  create  a  Pope  in  a  foreign 
country.  Hence  in  these  letters  he  breaks  forth  into  la- 
mentations at  the  sight  of  Rome  and  Italy  reduced  to  such 
a  deplorable  condition.  Two  things  are  to  be  remarked 
in  these  letters :  the  avowal  that  the  see  of  St.  Peter,  nay 
of  Christ  himself,  had  gone  to  wreck ;  12°  and  the  particu- 
lar grief  which  Orsini  seemed  to  feel  at  the  sight  of  so 
much  misery,  as  if  he  was  the  cause  of  it.121  The  Cardinal 
saw  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  the  calamities  which  had 
fallen  on  the  Church,  because  his  own  firmness  had  not 
equalled  that  of  Boniface,  and  he  recognized  perhaps  the 
fault  he  had  committed  in  cooperating  to  shorten  the  days 
of  that  Pontiff.  Nevertheless  the  evils  which  he  deplored 
were  only  a  prelude  to  sadder  ones  that  were  to  come. 
Public  worship  lost  its  splendor;  the  clergy  were  corrupt 
and  simoniacal;  the  churches  were  falling  into  ruin;  the 

118Baluz.  Collect.  Aucto.  Vet.  Tom.  II,  p.  289. 

118  Idem.   Epist.   Encycl.   Cardinal.   Italo.   de  incendio  urbis  Carpentora- 
tensis  post  obitum  Clements  V.  Pape. 

120 "  Sedes  B.  Petri,  immo  domini  nostri.     J.  Christi  disrupta  est."  Idem. 
331  "O  quot  dolores  sustinuimus  ista  videntes,  et  maxine  ego 


HISTORY    OP    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  437 

bonds  of  all  discipline  were  broken,  although  the  bishops 
of  Orvieto,  delegated  by  the  absent  Popes  to  take  their 
place  in  the  spiritual  things  of  the  Church,  appeared  still 
to  hold  these  bonds  in  their  hands.  And  in  order  that  not 
even  the  memory  of  civil  grandeur  might  remain,  the 
monuments  of  old  Rome  were  wretchedly  demolished  and 
lost.  The  fury  of  the  citizens  made  of  them  a  rampart  for 
the  combatants,  and  avarice  an  object  of  traffic.  Let  the 
reader  glance  at  the  letters  of  Francis  Petrarch,  that  truly 
Latin  personage,  and  he  will  find  there  the  sad  history  of 
these  calamities. 

Italy  could  not  have  been  in  a  worse  state  at  the  period 
when  deprived  of  the  Roman  Pqntiff.  If  Heaven  per- 
haps had  not  destined  this  country  for  a  future  civil  and 
religious  resurrection,  this  then  was  truly  the  time  in 
which  it  could  have  been  ruined  forever,  and  have  allowed 
the  proud  throne  of  some  Emperor  of  the  Romans  estab- 
lish itself  on  the  ruins  of  her  liberty.  The  Italian  cities 
had  arrived  at  that  stage,  in  which  the  republican  forms 
of  government  were  changing  into  principalities.  They 
were  not  constituted  into  republics  after  the  anterior  de- 
signs of  some  clever  legislator  wrho  had  known  how  to 
regulate  the  opposing  parties  in  the  state,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  prevent  them  from  transforming  themselves  into 
anarchy,  or  a  tyrannical  monarchy;  but  necessity  deter- 
mined their  choice.  The  republics,  in  fact,  were  formed 
amid  barbarism  and  the  devastation  of  the  country,  inas- 
much as  there  did  not  exist  among  them,  on  account  of  the 
general  poverty,  great  riches,  which  incorporated  into 
the  hands  of  a  few,  or  one  alone,  could  have  been  able  to 
make  the  civil-organization  degenerate  into  a  aristocracy, 
or  monarchy  (as  riches  are  the  first  foundation  of  power). 
Venice  alone,  enriched  by  her  commerce  with  distant  coun- 
tries, was  able  to  establish  hirself  solidly,  and  give  to  her 
government  the  character  of  a  powerful  aristocracy.  So 
a  certain  equality  of  rights  among  the  citizens  directed 
the  political  organization  of  the  Italian  cities,  but  as  soon 
as  the  inequality  of  wealth  arose,  the  jealous  love  of 
liberty  advised  the  entrusting  of  the  government  of  these 
cities  for  a  year,  to  a  foreign  governor;  an  advice  which 
revealed  the  absence  of  a  domestic  virtue  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent the  inconveniences  which  they  thought  to  remedy  by 


438  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

means  of  a  transient,  and  very  short,  it  is  true,  but  a  for- 
eign government. 

The  Popes  noticed  full  well  the  decadence  and  the 
brevity  of  the  life  of  the  republics,  and  before  entering 
upon  the  work  of  their  civil  reorganization,  they  thought 
of  averting  the  present  dangers  to  which  the  violent 
German  domination  exposed  them.  Alexander  III  inter- 
posed between  the  Lombards  and  Barbarossa,  arresting 
him  in  the  conquest  of  Lombardy,  aiding  those  there  to  live 
in  the  republican  league  until  the  Popes  would  be  able  to 
establish  themselves  as  the  peaceful  arbiters  of  the  future 
destinies  of  these  republics.  But  the  vices  of  the  democ- 
racy increased  with  the  inability  to  remedy  them,  and  the 
need  of  a  foreign  conciliator  increasing  also,  by  reason  of 
their  domestic  quarrels,  the  cities  had  recourse,  no  longer 
to  governors,  but  to  princes  who  had  in  their  hands  more 
power,  such  as  Charles  of  Anjou,  and  the  Emperor  of 
Germany.  The  imperial  vicars,  and  those  of  the  Ange- 
vine  prince,  represented  the  principality  and  not  the  pro- 
tectorate in  the  Italian  republics;  so  that  the  immediate 
and  first  effect  of  this  was  the  aggrandizement  of  the  aris- 
tocracy in  the  democratic  cities.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
house  of  Anjou  of  Naples  and  the  Emperors  fought  with 
equal  strength  on  Italian  territory,  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the 
Popes,  and  the  young  Italian  aristocracy,  the  mission  of 
receiving  within  their  arms  the  dying  republics;  the  one 
powerful  by  reason  of  its  moral,  and  the  other  by  reason 
of  its  material  strength.  The  former  tended  to  a  certain 
magistracy  of  preservation,  the  latter  to  an  absolute  prin- 
cipality, which  would  rob  the  common  country  of  her  in- 
dependence, by  excluding  the  Papal  supremacy.  Popes 
Nicholas  III  and  Nicholas  IV  wrere  fully  cognizant  of  this 
mission,  the  accomplishment  of  which  should  have  been 
the  work  of  Boniface  VIII,  as  the  succession  to  the  throne 
of  Germany  was  uncertain  and  Charles  II  of  Naples  was 
narrow-minded,  and  short-sighted. 

But  the  aforesaid  Popes  created  for  themselves,  by 
the  disastrous  elevation  of  their  own  families,  obsta- 
cles to  the  execution  of  this  plan.  The  Colonnas  and  the 
Orsini,  by  their  seditious  movements,  annoyed  and  kept 
the  Popes  busy  at  home;  and  far  from  leaving  them  free 
in  their  laborious  struggle  with  kings  for  the  liberty  of 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  439 

the  Church,  tied  their  hands  and  furnished  their  enemies 
additional  weapons.  The  whole  Pontificate  of  Boniface 
was  a  proof  of  that  which  we  assert.  Moreover,  the  en- 
counter of  a  king  such  as  Philip  the  Fair,  with  a  Pope  such 
as  Gaetani  contributed  also  to  interrupt  quickly  the 
course  of  this  tutelary  mission.  It  was  inevitable  that  the 
increasing  right  of  princes  should  one  day  clash  with  the 
immutable  right  of  the  Church.  But  if  the  encounter  had 
been  so  delayed  as  to  allow  the  Popes  time  to  make  them- 
selves the  Sovereign  arbiters  and  protectors  of  all  Italy 
and  to  establish  this  arbitration  and  this  protectorate  by 
the  force  of  public  right,  we  do  not  doubt  that  the  Italian 
country  and  the  Church  would  have  succeeded  in  the  con- 
quest of  a  common  individuality,  and  the  Alps  and  the 
sea  would  have  been  bulwarks  of  Italian  and  ecclesiastical 
liberty.  A  prompt  and  decisive  war  between  men  of  the 
character  of  Boniface  and  Philip  the  Fair  was  necessary; 
Boniface  was  defeated,  and  with  him  fell  mortally 
wrounded  the  hope  of  this  double  independence. 

If  the  defeat  was  stranger,  the  effects  of  it  were  no  less 
so.  For  many  years  Rome  was  bereft  of  the  Pope,  and 
Italy  of  the  Pontificate.  The  last  acts  of  Boniface  with 
regard  to  Florence  were  followed  by  sad  consequences. 
The  Ghibelline  party  increased  by  the  persecution;  it  in- 
carnated in  itself  the  thought  of  those  who,  despairing 
of  all  other  means,  turned  to  the  German  emperors.  Con- 
sidering only  the  present,  and  competely  blind  to  the 
future,  the  exiles,  together  with  the  more  steady  and  calm 
spirits  made  of  these  emperors  their  cherished  dream; 
the  former,  through  partisan  passion,  and  with  a  hope  of 
personal  benefit,  and  the  latter  through  a  desire  of  civil 
order.  For  this  reason  there  was  revived  in  Italy,  the 
imperial  principle  once  overthrown  in  Rudolph,  by  the 
power  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  and  which  was  confronted  by 
the  nascent  Italian  aristocracy  already  very  powerful, 
although  in  its  infancy ;  the  one  or  the  other  had  to  settle 
the  destinies  of  Italy ;  the  first  by  transforming  our  coun- 
try into  a  German  province ;  the  latter,  by  dividing  it  into 
many  principalities.  The  imperial  idea  threatened  it  with 
a  certain  loss  of  all  civil  independence;  with  the  aristoc- 
racy the  same  loss  was  easy,  but  yet  easy  to  be  regained. 

The  imperial  idea,  whose  character  is  unity,  was  ere 


440  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

long  personified  by  Henry  VII  of  Luxemburg ;  the  aristoc- 
racy by  the  Visconti  of  Milan,  by  the  Estes  of  Modena,  by 
the  princes  of  Savoy,  and  by  the  Marquises  of  Mont- 
ferrato.  These  representatives  of  the  aristocracy  were 
many,  and  consequently  were  jealous  of  one  another;  they 
rose  upon  the  ruins  of  the  republics  and  were  consequently 
badly  established  in  their  dominions.  Wherefore  emulous 
of  power  and  desirous  of  retaining  it,  instead  of  combining 
like  the  old  republics,  they  were  divided  and  strove  to 
strengthen  themselves  separately.  Unfortunately  the  love 
of  their  family,  and  not  that  of  country,  was  uppermost 
in  their  thoughts.  For  this  reason  being  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  some  one  more  powerful,  they  allied  them- 
selves as  vassals  to  the  German  emperor,  in  order  to  re- 
tain on  their  heads  that  crown,  which  if  leagued  together, 
they  could  have  retained  more  honestly,  and  with  greater 
advantage  to  their  common  country. 

But  this  confederation  was  impossible.  For  they 
lacked  altogether  unity  of  a  centre  around  which  to  assem- 
ble; they  lacked  a  judge  who  could  define  the  justice  of 
their  rights;  they  lacked  the  Supreme  Priest,  who  could 
have  blessed  them,  like  in  the  time  of  the  Lombard  league, 
in  a  word  they  lacked  the  Pope.  However,  Italy  at  that 
time  received,  from  the  House  of  Anjou  of  Naples,  an 
unexpected  benefit.  Robert,  a  man  infinitely  superior 
to  his  father  Charles  II,  both  in  courage  and  in  shrewd- 
ness, reigned  in  Naples.  Placed  at  the  head  of  the 
Guelph  party,  acknowledged  by  many  of  the  Italian 
cities,  if  not  as  master,  at  least  as  their  protector ;  invited 
like  his  grandfather  Charles  I  to  constitute  the  Italian 
principality  for  his  own  benefit;  nay  even  better  treated 
than  his  grandfather  by  fortune,  since  the  Pope  was  no 
longer  at  Rome,  to  hinder,  like  Nicholas  IV  the  realiz- 
ation of  this  ambitious  design,  Robert  succeeded  in  check- 
ing Henry  VII,  who  moreover  died  suddenly;  but  he  did 
not  succeed  in  grasping  the  reins  of  that  principality.  He 
drove  off  an  enemy,  Henry  of  Luxemburg,  but  he  could 
not  bring  the  Italians,  his  friends,  to  submit  to  his  sov- 
ereignty. The  new  Italian  princes  were  not  heads  of  fac- 
tions, but  of  a  state;  whence  they  considered  Robert  a 
rival,  and  a  rival  so  much  the  more  dangerous  as  he  was 
powerful  who  could,  with  the  aid  of  the  Guelph  party, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  441 

crush  their  infant  sovereignties.  And  hence  at  the  first 
movement  of  Luxemburg,  the  princes  all  became  Ghibel- 
lines.  Amadeus  V,  and  Philip  prince  of  Achaia,  lords  of 
Savoy,  voluntarily  opened  the  way  into  Italy.  They  had 
been  Guelphs,  and  were  even  the  mainstay  of  that  party; 
now  not  only  did  they  allow  the  German  Emperor  to  freely 
pass,  but  also  assisted  him  by  their  good  offices  at  the 
court  of  Avignon  to  have  his  election  as  emperor  con- 
firmed, and  also  furnish  him  arms.  Luxemburg  had  with 
him  Germans,  Burgundians,  and  French,  wrho  could  re- 
store the  times  of  the  infancy  of  Frederick  II;  in  front 
marched  the  revived  Ghibellines.  Brescia  arrested  the 
course  of  Henry;  it  destroyed  three  fourths  of  his  army, 
and  gave  time  to  Robert  and  the  Guelphs  of  Florence  to 
oppose  efficaciously  the  invasion  of  the  German  Emperor. 
A  signal  benefit  for  which  the  present  and  the  future  gen- 
erations of  this  peninsula  can  never  be  too  grateful  to  that 
king  and  that  republic. 

At  the  time  of  Henry's  death,  the  aristocracy  had  al- 
ready accomplished  the  transformation  of  the  republics 
into  principalities.  The  Guelphs  became  stronger  and 
stronger;  but  they  did  not  possess  their  former  life,  for 
they  were  only  an  instrument  of  the  ambitions  of  Robert. 
Henry  being  dead,  this  prince  had  himself  declared  by 
Clement  the  vicar  of  the  empire  in  Italy,  and  renewed  the 
undertaking  of  the  conquest  of  the  Italian  principality. 
But  in  place  of  the  unstable  democracies  of  old,  he  en- 
countered round  about  him  firm  sovereignties,  the  most 
powerful  of  which  was  that  of  the  Visconti  in  Milan,  who 
could  find  no  reason  for  allowing  Robert  to  do  that  which 
they  should  and  ought  to  do  to  prevent  them  from  becom- 
ing vassals  of  the  House  of  Anjou.  The  Ghibellines  and  the 
Visconti  presented  a  bold  front  to  the  daring  Angevine,  and 
the  former  under  the  leadership  of  Uguccione  of  Fagginola 
defeated  the  army  of  Robert  at  Montecatini;  and  the  lat- 
ter hemmed  in  this  prince  so  closely  in  Genoa,  that  al- 
though the  city  was  not  surrendered,  yet  they  gave  a 
mortal  blow  to  his  material  power  and  to  his  reputation. 
This  siege,  which  by  contemporaries  has  been  likened  to 
that  of  Troy,  put  an  end  to  the  hopes  of  that  of  Robert, 
and  to  the  fears  of  the  new  Italian  princes;  and  then  be- 
gan the  parcelling  of  Italy  into  a  number  of  small  sov- 


442  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

ereignties,  or  seignories,  rivals  of  one  another,  enemies  of 
concord,  blind  to  the  interest  of  the  common  country,  see- 
ing only  their  distinctive  individuality,  hence  powerful 
for  intestine  feuds,  powerless  to  repulse  the  attacks  of 
strangers,  and  bartering  their  own  independence  and  that 
of  all  Italy  for  the  princely  interests  of  the  families  who 
governed  and  personified  them. 

When  Gregory  XI  returned  to  Rome  from  Avignon,  the 
old  Roman  Pontificate  did  not  return  with  him.  This 
Pontificate,  after  being  seen  in  opposition  with  foreign 
princes,  now  was  also  in  strife  with  the  Italian  princes; 
and  the  Italian  people,  who  under  other  forms  of  govern- 
ments, had  been,  from  the  time  of  Alexander  III,  the  chief 
source  of  its  temporal  power,  were  unable  to  assist  it,  be- 
cause their  own  individuality  had  been  absorbed  by  that 
of  the  princes.  So  then  as  Italy  had  to  mourn  the  loss  of 
the  Pontificate,  the  Pontificate  was  saddened  at  the  loss  of 
the  devotion  of  Italy  to  its  See ;  but  her  impotence  seemed 
to  make  her  forget  her  civil  mission.  Moreover  the  Popes 
who  then  ruled  Christendom,  acting  exclusively  in  their 
capacity  as  princes,  determined,  after  the  example  of 
other  sovereigns,  to  elevate  their  relations  and  create  prin- 
cipalities for  them.  They  also,  yielded  to  hopes  and  fears 
which  were  neither  patriotic  nor  Italian,  but  purely  in- 
dividual, allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  towards  the 
great  foreign  potentates,  and  contributed  to  the  greater 
division  of  their  country,  a  division  like  the  one  with 
which  Charles  V  and  Francis  I  threatened  it.  Thus  Italy 
seemed  the  prey  of  foreigners,  the  prey  consecrated  and 
sanctified  by  the  Popes,  who  consoled  themselves  with  the 
beautiful  domains  of  the  Medicis  and  the  Farneses.  A 
powerful  voice  made  itself  heard,  that  of  Julius  II,  and 
called  for  the  expulsion  of  the  barbarians  from  Italy.  But 
the  sound  of  this  voice  was  not  reechoed  in  the  courts  of 
the  princes,  who  were  equally  barbarians  with  foreign- 
ers; and  it  was  not  heard  by  the  people,  because  it  came 
from  the  breast  of  a  prince,  and  not  from  a  Pontiff.  Men 
of  the  time  in  which  these  things  happened  and  posterity 
have  cursed  the  work  of  the  Popes,  and  wished  to  make 
the  Roman  Pontificate  responsible  and  persecute  it;  but 
in  this  they  were  deceived.  The  Pontificate  stood  no 
longer  in  the  low  regions  in  which  the  political  destinies 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  443 

of  Italy,  conducted  by  human  wisdom,  moved,  but  in  the 
sublime  regions  in  which  divine  providence  accomplished 
the  mystery  of  the  catholicity  of  its  Church.  Like  Jesus 
Christ  its  author,  whom  the  Jews  threatened  to  stone,  be- 
lieving that  He  aspired  to  royalty,  the  civil  Pontificate 
had  hidden  itself,  and  it  went  out  from  that  temple  in 
which  a  double  unity  assembled  the  people;  unity  of  faith 
which  still  assemble  them  and  will  ever  assemble  them; 
and  that  unity  of  filial  confidence  with  which  they  intrust 
to  the  Pontificate  the  direction  of  their  civil  destinies. 
The  proceedings  of  Philip  the  Fair  against  Boniface  drove 
it  from  the  States,  and  rendered  it  invisible;  it  no  longer 
exist eo!  in  the  temple  of  civil  justice. 

We  have  said  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  author  of  the 
civil  Pontificate.  Now  as  He  is  also  the  author  of  the 
eternal  Pontificate  which  governs  visibly  the  Church  mili- 
tant, it  followed  that  believers  having  been  removed,  as 
citizens  of  the  state,  from  the  civil  empire  of  the  Roman 
Church,  were  miserably  confused  as  the  faithful  after- 
wards; and  they  began  to  be  wanting  in  charity,  which 
is  the  bond  of  hearts;  in  faith  which  is  that  of  the  soul, 
and  afterwards  in  the  civil  order,  which  is  the  social 
bond.  For  the  civil  Pontificate  is  only  a  necessary  con- 
sequence of  the  eternal  Pontificate.  For  forty  years,  that 
is  from  1378  to  1418  the  Church  was  torn  by  the  most 
formidable  of  schisms;  which  drew  its  strength  from  the 
doubt  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  true  Vicar  of  Christ ;  and 
while  the  minds  were  struggling  in  the  search  of  the  true 
Pontiff,  Wyclif,  supported  by  his  satellite  John  Huss,  was 
laying  the  foundation  of  all  modern  heresy,  with  which 
the  ancient  ones  had  nothing  in  common  but  error;  but 
the  reason  of  the  error  was  altogether  his  own,  and  up  to 
that  time  was  unknown.  From  Simon  Magus  up  to  the 
XV  century,  the  heresies,  although  they  were  distinguished 
by  the  different  aberrations  of  human  intellects  which 
conceived  them,  yet  they  all  possessed  one  only  substan- 
tial individuality,  namely  the  denial  and  rejection  of  the 
infallible  judgment  of  the  Church  in  her  definitions.  But 
from  Wyclif  down  to  our  days  heresy  is  distinguished  from 
all  preceding  heresies  by  a  certain  substantial  individu- 
ality, which  consists  in  the  substitution  of  reason,  not  of 
humanity  but  of  man  taken  separately,  for  the  infallible 


444  HISTORY   OF   POPE    BONIFACE   VIII. 

authority  of  revelation.  The  ancient  heresies  would  only 
destroy;  modern  heresy  raised  on  the  ruins  of  revelation, 
a  throne  to  reason  defining.  This  Wy cliff  was  a  terrible 
man,  and  a  real  giant  of  error.  We  shall  not  speak  in 
detail  of  his  heresy  condemned  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  but  rather  of  that  which,  accord- 
ing to  us,  constitutes  its  own  individuality,  and  that  of 
the  later  heresies.  The  prolific  germ  of  so  much  and  ruin 
is  in  the  "  Trialogue  "  the  principal  book  of  Wycliff.  In 
that  work  he  introduces  as  disputing,  Truth,  the  symbol 
of  the  good,  Error,  the  symbol  of  the  bad  Theology,  and 
Science,  which  is  a  figure  of  Wyclif  himself.122  Here  is 
the  throne  erected  to  individual  reason,  and  the  first  to 
sit  upon  it  is  Wycliff,  a  place  which  he  bequeathed  later 
to  Luther.  He  defines;  and  the  judgment  could  not  be 
anything  else  but  the  negation  of  truth,  atheism.123  Now, 
this  man  who,  as  infallible  judge,  made  himself  deposi- 
tory of  the  truth,  did  not  view  it,  did  not  call  it  atheism, 
but  he  preached  it  implicitly,  and  gave  it,  included  in  the 
immediate  consequences  of  his  principles,  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  reformed  Church  in  Germany. 

The  kings  had  freed  themselves  from  all  civil  allegiance 
to  the  Koman  Pontificate;  they  considered  themselves 
free  and  independent  of  that  which  they  called  the  fetters 
of  the  Koman  court ;  they  were  alone  on  their  thrones  and 
they  acknowledged  no  one  superior  to  them  but  Almighty 
God.  Human  reason  defied  by  Wycliff  did  not  make  them 
fear;  on  the  contrary  whilst  they  were  displaying  grief, 
like  the  Emperor  Sigismund  at  Constance,  over  the  harm 
which  it  did  to  Catholic  dogma,  they  perceived  with  in- 
terior joy  that  this  individual  reason  had  secured  an 
infallibility  which  could  at  once  guarantee  them  against 
the  important  supervision  of  the  Supreme  Priesthood,  and 
the  impertinent  inquiry  of  the  people.  They  learned  later 
and  too  late  that  the  people  also  had  an  individual  reason. 
This  is  why  Luther,  who  concealed  under  the  hypocritical 
authority  of  the  Bible,  the  only  and  infallible  authority 
of  his  own  reason,  found  favor  in  the  courts  of  Germany, 
because  he  generously  made  use  of  this  reason  towards 
the  Princes ;  who  up  to  that  time  held  within  the  limits  of 

1X1  Book  IV.  ""Bossuet,  History  of  Variations.     Book  II. 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  '445 

Catholic  morality  now  saw  this  heresiarch  open  to  them, 
and  also  sanctify  all  the  wicked  paths,  which  it  pleased 
them  to  pursue.  The  heresy  of  Luther  first  infected  the 
princes,  and  afterwards  the  people.  It  infected  especially 
the  former,  because  they  had  much  to  gain  by  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Papacy. 

The  Reformation  accomplished  two  sad  results,  the  one 
mortal,  which  was  the  separation  of  a  large  number  of 
princes  with  their  subjects  from  the  Roman  Church;  and 
the  other  contagious,  which  was  to  chill  more  and  more 
the  devotion  of  all  the  other  princes  to  the  Papal  See. 
The  latter  continued  to  adore  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eu- 
charist; to  believe  in  free  will  and  Purgatory;  they  con- 
tinued to  say  and  show  themselves,  in  all  that  did  not  offend 
their  pride,  loving  children  in  Christ  of  the  Pope;  but, 
acting  as  not  very  affectionate  children,  they  expelled 
him  from  their  states,  and  they  repelled  the  Church, 
forcing  her  to  confine  herself  to  the  invisible  sanctuary  of 
her  dogmas.  They  did  not  proclaim,  like  Luther  that  the 
Church  was  invisible;  but  they  deprived  her  of  her  visi- 
bility, scarcely  allowing  her  the  sensible  forms  of  her 
exterior  worship.  The  Church  is  visible  not  only  in  the 
explicit  confession  of  her  dogmas,  in  the  use  of  her  sacra- 
ments, but  also  in  that  which  is  the  essence  of  her  visi- 
bility, subjection  to  the  Pontiff,  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  presides  over  every  Catholic  man  in  the  complement 
of  his  individuality,  that  is  to  say,  in  his  reason.  Now  as 
the  social  life  is  the  life  of  man,  precisely  because  he  is 
rational,  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  cannot  rule  every  man 
with  out  touching,  with  his  authority,  civil  society  in 
which  there  exists  the  complement  of  man.  The  princes 
expelled  the  Pope  from  this  society,  they  confined  him  in 
the  Church;  and  while  they  called  themselves  Catholic, 
and  most  Christian,  political  atheism  dishonored  the  ad- 
ministration of  their  States.  From  political  to  religious 
atheism  was  only  a  step,  and  the  follies  of  Henry  VIII 
could  be  multiplied  in  other  courts.  He  had  been  scan- 
dalized by  the  errors  of  Luther,  he  had  won  the  beautiful 
title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith,  having  defended  it  even  by 
his  writings,  against  the  German  novelties;  and  yet  with- 
out attacking  at  first  any  dogma,  only  because  he  found 
the  Papal  authority  firm  as  a  wall  against  his  beastly  pas- 


446  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

sions,  he  severed  from  the  Church,  England  that  choice 
portion  of  Christendom,  not  with  the  sword  of  the  syl- 
logism, but  with  the  axe  of  the  executioner.  This  sepa- 
ration was  not  preceded  by  any  new  doctrines  nor  by  any 
disputes,  but  only  by  the  deep  roaring  of  a  heart,  stung 
by  the  Pontificate  in  the  wound  which  a  criminal  lust  had 
inflicted.  The  Christian  kings  were  surprised  and  scan- 
dalized by  the  brutal  wantonness  of  the  English  King,  and 
by  his  furious  schism.  They  attached  themselves  more 
closely  to  the  Roman  See;  but  they  no  longer  believed 
rightly  in  its  supremacy,  and  hence  prepared  the  way  for 
new  and  dangerous  schisms. 

Subjection  to  the  Roman  Pontiff,  as  Vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  not  only  in  all  that  affects  faith  and  morals, 
but  also  in  that  which  affects  indirectly  civil  society,  is 
for  Catholics  a  dogma  like  those  of  the  Trinity  and  the 
Eucharist.  And  as  this  dogma  is  proposed  to  our  belief 
by  an  absolute  revealing  principle,  not  liable  to  a  human 
contingency,  so  the  belief  ought  to  be  also  absolute,  in- 
variable and  one.  Now  to  say  that  some  believe  in  a 
greater,  and  others  in  a  lesser  supremacy  in  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  is  absurd,  just  as  it  would  be  absurd  to  speak  of 
greater  or  less  affirmation  of  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity. 
Dogma  is  one  like  God ;  it  is  so  rigorously  concentrated  in 
unity,  that  it  allows  no  room  for  a  diversity  of  opinions. 
Hence  unless  they  wish  to  renounce  the  Catholic  principle, 
or  while  admitting  the  principle  illogically  deny  the  con- 
sequence,— the  faithful  should  always  be  subject  to  the 
Popes  as  they  once  were  to  Gregory  VII,  exception  being 
made  of  political  influence,  which  the  modern  public  right 
no  longer  accords  the  sovereign  Pontiff.  Therefore  the 
Papal  condescensions  at  the  price  of  which  a  deceitful 
peace  was  bought,  should  sooner  or  later  engender  open 
war  against  the  essence  of  the  dogma  of  the  Pontifical  su- 
premacy. The  germ  of  these  hostilities  is  always  in  the 
character  of  the  times  and  of  the  men.  Now  when  the 
first  of  these  concessions  was  made,  the  times  were  already 
mature,  and  they  awaited  the  men,  with  the  aid  of  whom 
they  would  be  able  to  produce  their  venomous  ??? 

The  Council  of  Constance  and  the  Reformation  of 
Luther  matured  the  times,  and  Louis  XIV  was  the  man 
that  the  times  looked  for.  Thanks  to  the  removal  of  the 


HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE   VIII.  447 

Holy  See  to  Avignon  by  the  intrigue  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
the  Church  had  fallen  into  such  a  deplorable  condition, 
that,  during  forty  years,  no  Pope  had  won  the  universal 
suffrage  for  the  supreme  power  with  which  he  was  vested. 
The  people  and  the  kings  were  divided,  not  on  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  right  of  Papal  supremacy,  but  on  the  legiti- 
macy of  the  fact,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  person  in  which 
this  supremacy  resided.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  such  great 
diversity  of  opinions  in  a  thing  in  which  the  life  of  Catho- 
lic unity  entirely  rested,  that  the  Council  of  Constance  was 
convoked.  Its  legitimacy  depended  on  that  of  the  Pope 
who  convoked  it.  Now  as  John  XXIII,  Gregory  XII  and 
Benedict  XIII,  all  called  themselves  Pontiffs,  this  fact 
kept  the  minds  of  the  Fathers  undecided,  and  wavering 
and  in  this  frame  of  mind  they  took  their  seats  in  the 
Council  of  Constance.  They  had  to  decide  the  legitimacy 
of  the  three  Pontiffs,  and  as  all  three  had  followers 
throughout  Christendom,  here  was  the  example  of  a  Pope 
judged  by  a  Council.  Their  judgment  referred  to  the  fact, 
and  not  to  the  right;  it  concerned  the  three  men  who 
called  themselves  Popes,  and  not  the  legitimate  succes- 
sors of  St.  Peter;  therefore  they  assembled,  although  di- 
vided in  opinion,  to  decide  that  all  the  faithful,  even  those 
vested  with  Papal  authority,  should  submit  to  their 
decrees.124  That  which  was  decided  by  reason  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  times,  and  affecting  the  three  pretend- 
ers to  the  Papacy,  was  regarded  and  received  by  some  as 
a  decision  universal,  absolute,  and  affecting  all  the  legi- 
timate successors  of  St.  Peter.  For  such  it  did  not  suffice 
as  an  argument  to  the  contrary,  that  the  very  Fathers  of 
the  Council  of  Constance,  in  their  condemnation  of  the 
heresies  of  Wycliff,  proclaimed  the  independence  of  the 
Papal  supremacy ;  and  that  Martin  V,  in  a  consistory  held 
March  10th,  1418,  decided  and  declared  in  a  Bull,  that 
there  could  be  no  appeal  from  a  Pope  to  a  Council.  Ger- 
son  wrote  against  the  Papal  decision  founded  as  it  was 
on  the  tradition  of  fourteen  centuries,  and  on  reason ;  and 
in  France  especially,  where  the  tradition  of  the  acts  of 
Philip  the  Fair  was  preserved,  the  opinion  of  Gerson  was 

"*  Coll.    Concill.    Cone.    Const,    sess,    4,      Vide    Schelestrate    de    Concil, 
Constant.  Dissert,  2,  c.  2. 


448  HISTORY   OF   POPE   BONIFACE    VIII. 

received,  and  believed  infallibly  on  account  of  the  decis- 
ion of  the  Council  of  Constance. 

This  decree  of  the  Council  of  Constance  eased  the  con- 
science of  French  kings  as  often  as  the  Papal  authority  ap- 
peared to  them  importunate  and  excessive.  Luther  taught 
them  to  do  things  with  a  certain  order.  As  this  heresiarch 
had  admitted  a  thousand  times  in  his  writings,  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Koman  Church,  and  had  denied  it  after- 
wards, in  order  to  escape  the  reproach  of  contradiction, 
he  established  the  distinction  between  the  Roman  Church 
and  the  Roman  Court.  A  precious  distinction  for  the  Gal- 
licans,  and  one  to  which  they  adhered  with  great  eager- 
ness. For  as  the  Council  of  Constance  removed  them 
from  the  immediate  authority  of  the  Pope,  who  could  err 
and  be  summoned,  as  a  party,  before  the  council,  so  the 
distinction  of  Luther  increased  their  independence  as  long 
as  no  voice  came  from  Heaven  to  tell  them  when  the  voice 
of  the  Pontiff  emanated  from  the  Church,  and  when  from 
the  Court.  Such  was  the  maturity  of  the  times,  we  now 
come  to  that  of  the  men. 

France,  although  tainted  with  the  heresy  of  Calvin,  re- 
mained attached  to  the  Papal  See.  But  unhappily  Jan- 
senism, assuming  much  of  the  reformations  of  Luther  and 
Calvin,  especially  what  touched  Papal  supremacy,  was  a 
peaceful  vehicle  of  those  poisonous  consequences,  which 
we  have  mentioned,  and  on  account  of  which  all  France, 
while  remaining  Catholic,  did  not  remain  over  tolerant  of 
the  infallible  authority  of  the  Roman  Pontificate.  The 
clergy  from  the  time  of  Philip  the  Fair  had  been  always 
looked  upon  with  bias  by  the  body  of  civil  magistrates, 
who,  believing  in  power,  did  not  want  an  intermediary 
power  between  their  own  and  that  of  the  King.  So,  the 
jealousy  of  the  jurists  and  the  despotism  of  the  Prince 
combined  to  fight  against  the  liberty  of  the  clergy  and  the 
Papal  authority  in  France.  Arrived  at  the  zenith  of 
power,  feared  by  all  Europe,  surrounded  by  the  highest 
intelligences  of  his  age,  deified  by  the  poets,  and  by  a 
court,  which  in  the  worship  of  the  prince  partook  some- 
what of  idolatry,  Louis  XIV,  was  called  the  Great.  Facts 
corresponded  to  the  title,  so  was  it  easy  for  Louis  to  con- 
ceive in  himself  a  greatness  which  unfortunately  over- 
powered his  reason.  He  could  not  broaden  his  mind  sum- 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  449 

ciently  to  see  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  that  is  the  peo- 
ple ;  nor  who  was  placed  above  him,  that  is  God,  reigning 
visibly  over  him  by  his  Vicar;  and  concentrating  it  all  in 
himself,  he  found  in  himself  only  the  principle  and 
morality  of  all  his  actions.  He  appeared  Catholic,  because 
he  assisted  at  Mass,  communicated  and  fasted;  and  to 
confirm  the  appearances,  he  revoked  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
persecuted  the  Huguenots,  and  spent  much  money  to  con- 
vert them.  But  Louis,  exalted  by  the  courtiers,  in  the  ex- 
pansion of  his  power,  was  to  encounter  God  and  men.  The 
encounter  with  men  was  reserved  for  the  unfortunate 
Louis  XVI,  that  with  God  was  experienced  by  himself, 
He  quarrelled  with  Pope  Innocent  XI  for  the  same  rea- 
sons that  Philip  the  Fair  disagreed  with  Boniface  VIII; 
namely,  on  account  of  the  immunity  of  the  sacred  patri- 
monies to  which  Louis  opposed  the  rights  of  the  Kegalia, 
supported  in  his  pretensions  by  his  pride,  and  by  Colbert, 
who  did  not  find  sufficient  wealth  in  the  public  treasury 
for  the  royal  conquests,  for  the  conversion  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, and  also  for  certain  other  domestic  expenses  of 
Louis.  The  discussion  of  a  particular  right  opened  the 
way  to  that  of  the  general  right  of  the  Church.  The  mag- 
istrates were  the  flower  of  the  royal  forces  in  this  combat ; 
behind  theme  were  grouped  the  Jansenists,  who  furnished 
them  with  arms,  but  hidden,  because  Louis  detested  them 
for  their  rigor.  (Louis  was  great  in  everything,  even  in 
the  weaknesses  of  human  nature)  ;  the  ecclesiastics  formed 
the  rearguard.  We  shall  relate  briefly  how  the  clergy 
came  to  be  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  defenders  of  the  royal 
power.  Louis  distributed  according  to  his  will  some  very 
rich  prebends,  and  chose  the  pastors  from  among  the  no- 
blest families  that  surrounded  his  throne;  so  that  the 
higher  clergy  formed  one  brilliant  mass  with  the  civil 
aristocracy.  Thus  the  riches,  the  favors  of  the  Prince, 
and  the  feeling  which  the  French  call  enthusiasm,  and 
which  so  readily  took  possession  of  a  French  soul  in 
presence  of  the  greatness  of  Louis,  and  a  certain  pride  in 
seeing  the  French  Church  distinguished  from  the  others, 
by  that  which  they  believed  to  be  privileges,  and  a  particu- 
lar liberty;  in  fine  a  leaning  towards  the  Jansenistic 
theories,  had,  though  with  not  a  few  exceptions,  rendered 
the  clergy  most  docile  to  Louis.  During  the  ten  years 


450  HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII. 

that  he  lived  at  court  in  educating  the  Dauphin,  Bossuet, 
witness  of  all  that  transpired  there,  and  which  we  will  not 
mention,  Bossuet  whom  La  Bruyere  has  called  a  Father 
of  the  Church,  did  not  utter  a  non  licet,  in  order  to  shield 
at  least  his  disciple  from  the  scandals  of  his  father. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1681,  all  the  clergy  of 
France  assembled  at  Paris  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Archbishop  of  that  city.  Bossuet,  then  Bishop  of  Meaux, 
preached  before  that  assembly;  he  attempted  to  prove  the 
supremacy  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to  St.  Peter  over  the 
Church,  and  proved  from  the  faults  of  that  Apostle,  the 
necessity  for  the  sovereign  Pontiffs  to  link  to  their  great 
powers  an  equally  great  humility  and  condescension.  This 
doctrine  clearly  indicated  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  assembled.  The  French  prelates  convoked  by  the 
King,  proceeded  to  the  compilation  of  the  famous  four 
articles,  and  decided:  1st,  that  the  Pope  invested  writh 
sovereign  power  over  spiritual  things,  concerning  eternal 
salvation,  has  no  power  whatever  over  temporal  things; 
hence  he  cannot  depose  kings,  or  absolve  their  subjects 
from  their  oath  of  fidelity;  2nd,  that  the  power  of  the 
successors  of  St.  Peter  can  not  disparage  the  decrees  of 
the  fourth  and  fifth  session  of  the  Council  of  Constance 
relative  to  the  authority  of  general  councils;  3rd,  that 
this  power  is  restricted  and  limited  by  the  canons,  and  by 
the  rules  and  usages  adopted  by  the  various  churches,  and 
especially  by  that  of  France;  4th,  finally  although  it  be- 
longs to  the  Pope  to  decide  all  controversies  relative  to 
faith,  and  these  decisions  are  binding  on  all  the  churches, 
yet  these  decisions  can  be  reformed  so  long  as  they  have 
not  been  sanctioned  by  the  consent  of  the  Universal 
Church.  Here  then  is  the  Pontiff  despoiled  by  these 
Catholics  of  that  sovereign  authority  given  to  him  by 
Jesus  Christ;  here  are  the  faithful  abandoned  to  them- 
selves in  the  affairs  of  eternal  salvation,  and  continually 
in  the  expectation  of  general  councils;  here  was  Catholic 
dogma  conciliated  with  the  invisibility,  or  better  the  nul- 
lity of  the  sovereign  Pontifical  power;  here  as  a  conse- 
quence was  the  work  accomplished,  not  of  Lutherans  but 
of  Catholics,  that  was  begun  from  the  time  of  Gregory 
VII,  and  conducted  in  such  a  prosperous  manner  after  the 
death  of  Boniface  VIII.  The  Apostolic  Church  groaned, 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  451 

but  the  grief  she  then  felt  at  the  recent  loss  of  a  beloved 
daughter,  England,  counselled  prudence  and  consider- 
ation. Louis  the  Great  was  always  considered  a  Catholic 
notwithstanding  the  increase  and  abuse  of  his  rights  of 
Hegalia.  France  was  considered  Catholic  notwithstand- 
ing the  liberties  of  her  Church.  Many  of  her  prelates  de- 
plored the  evils  of  the  wicked  epoch,  and  especially  that 
most  amiable  Fenelon,  who  beheld  his  beloved  France  in 
danger  of  following  the  example  of  unfortunate  Eng- 
land.125 

Because  the  Popes  refrained  from  hurling  anathemas 
against  France,  many  thought  that  this  was  caused  by 
fear  or  by  a  feeling  of  impotence.  But  no,  their  moder- 
ation was  the  work  of  God.  He  wanted  to  bring  back  to 
the  truth,  this  illustrious  clergy,  which  had  merited  so 
well  of  the  Church,  by  a  way  which  the  compilers  of  the 
four  articles  had  undoubtedly  not  foreseen.  Louis  taught 
the  parliaments,  by  his  wars  against  the  Church,  the  use 
of  that  individual  reason,  which  Wyclif  and  the  Reforma- 
tion had,  as  we  mentioned  before,  proclaimed  an  infallible 
queen,  deciding  the  truth  between  the  just  and  the  unjust. 
He,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  clergy,  banished  from  the 
kingdom  the  detested  supremacy  of  the  Pope  and  the 
Church,  and  taught  minds  a  liberty  of  thought  which  did 
not  admit  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  an  absolute  and 
unchangeable  order;  and  each  one  decided  between  truth 
and  error.  In  a  word  in  the  joy  of  his  triumph  he  invited 
the  proud  philosophy  of  the  XVIII  Century,  to  behold  from 
the  height  of  his  throne,  his  conquests  over  the  Church; 
and  whilst  Massillon,  sighing  over  the  bier  of  the  King, 
exclaimed  that  God  alone  was  great,  that  XVIII  century 
philosophy  ridiculed  both  Louis  and  God. 

God  could  have  allowed  that  poison  to  escape,  which  the 
four  articles  had  stored  up  in  the  body  of  the  French  na- 
tion, by  the  sharp  and  penetrating  sword  of  anathema, 
but  he  would  not.  He  willed  that  France  should  be  pun- 
ished by  her  own  hands,  and  that  the  punishment  would 

325 "  Quae  quidem  infelicissima  rerum  spiritualium  conditio,  quod 
praesagit  pro  futuris  temporibus,  si  minus  principes  regnent,  nisi  apertam 
gallicanae  defectionem  a  Sede  apostolica?  Quod  in  Anglia  contigit,  hoc, 
idem  apud  nos  eventurum  valde  metuo."  Fenelon  de  Summi  Pontif 
anctoritate,  cap.  40. 


452         HISTORY  OF  POPE  BONIFACE  VIII. 

be  profitable  to  all  Europe.  The  philosophers  born  in  the 
shadow  of  the  Reformation,  grown  up  and  taught  in  the 
shadow  of  the  free  Gallican  Church,  were  the  instruments 
of  divine  vengeance.  They  demolished,  with  the  same 
stroke,  both  the  throne  and  the  altar.  Heaven  plunged 
France  in  the  fire  of  a  great  tribulation,  purified  her,  and 
in  the  ashes  of  that  conflagration  sowed  the  seeds  of  an 
universal  generation.  This  terrible  revolution  was  a 
design  which  God  selected  from  the  treasures  of  his  anger ; 
but  a  design  wonderfully  prolific  of  good,  because  God  is 
the  sovereign  good.  The  puny  minds  of  men  thought  that 
all  good  morals  would  be  entirely  lost ;  yet  from  that  time 
the  pagan  lasciviousness  of  the  court  of  Louis  the  Great 
no  longer  defiled  royal  courts  and  corrupted  the  people. 
Religion  and  worship  were  mourned  as  dead,  and  yet  re- 
ligion and  worship  lived  and  will  live.  The  keys  of  St. 
Peter  wer,e  thought  to  have  been  broken  forever,  and  the 
Roman  Church  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  crimes  of 
France;  and  yet  from  that  moment  the  clergy  of  St. 
Remy,  and  St.  Hilary  were  ashamed  of  their  liberties,  as 
of  chains  of  disgrace;  forgetting  the  four  articles,  they 
atoned  for  their  faults  by  the  blood  of  an  astounding 
martyrdom;  the  Spouse  Jesus  Christ,  through  the  Frencli 
priesthood,  resumed  her  vestment  of  purple,  and  pre- 
sented herself  to  her  spouse  delightfully  adorned  as  in  the 
noble  days  of  pagan  persecutions.  An  immense  good  re- 
sulted from  an  immense  evil.  The  Church  and  the  Refor- 
mation of  Luther  tried  their  strength  in  this  subversion 
of  human  and  divine  things.  The  Reformation  petrified, 
has  seen  the  Bible  in  its  hands  perused  by  Strauss;  and 
the  Church  ever  young,  standing  above  the  ruins  heaped 
up  about  her,  chants  the  hymn  of  victory :  "  Selutem  ex 
inimicis  nostris" 

The  French  Revolution  was  the  encounter  of  indi- 
vidual reasons,  that  of  the  people  against  that  of  the 
kings.  Both  of  them  were  inimical  to  the  infallible  rea- 
son of  God,  which  speaks  and  judges  through  the  Ponti- 
ficate ;  and  therefore  in  their  quarrels,  both  are  indirectly 
beneficial  to  that  same  infallible  reason.  Long  has  been 
the  war  which  the  latter  has  sustained  since  God  placed 
her  among  men;  her  enemies  succeeded  one  another  be- 
cause they  were  weary  and  powerless.  No  one  succeeded 


HISTORY    OF    POPE    BONIFACE    VIII.  453 

her,  because  she  is  eternal  and  immutable  like  the  mind  of 
God.  Since  this  struggle  goes  on  still,  between  her  ene- 
mies, and  there  is  seen  no  possibility  or  hope  of  a  peace- 
ful settlement  between  them,  should  we  not  foresee  the 
return  of  that  civil  Pontificate,  which  like  a  father  may 
pardon  the  ingratitude  of  his  children,  and  be  reconciled 
with  them  in  the  kiss  of  love? 

We  do  not  know  if  this  poor  history  has  succeeded  in 
removing  from  Boniface,  the  Italian,  that  infamy  with 
which  both  his  countrymen  and  foreigners  wished  to 
darken  his  name.  But  if,  thanks  to  it,  his  memory  appears 
to  some  readers  in  a  more  favorable  light,  let  them  frame 
a  wish  with  us;  it  will  find  no  doubt  on  the  Papal  Chair, 
a  heart  to  welcome  it; — Let  the  ashes  of  the  brave  and 
courageous  Gaetani  appear  in  the  light  of  the  immense 
basilica  of  St.  Peter.  The  obscure  crypts  of  the  Vatican 
where  they  rest  would  seem  the  refuge  of  a  disgraceful 
greatness.  Let  them  appear  in  the  light,  in  order  that 
the  lineaments  of  his  funeral  statue  be,  before  the  whole 
world,  a  monument  of  Italian  firmness.  Let  them  appear 
in  the  light,  in  order  that  the  civil  Pontificate  on  its  re- 
turn, may  find  a  throne  not  unworthy  of  its  mission,  the 
tomb  of  the  magnanimous  Boniface.  We  feel  it  coming,  it 
is  returning.  May  certain  readers  pardon  the  presenti- 
ment we  have  of  so  great  a  return.  If  it  be  an  error  on  our 
part,  it  is  a  fault  not  of  the  mind  but  of  the  heart,  and 
faults  of  the  heart  are  always  pardoned. 


FINIS. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

DOCUMENT  (A). 

BRIEF   OP   POPE   ALEXANDER   IV   IN   FAVOR   OF   BENEDICT  OAETANI. 

(Extract  from  the  archives  of  the  Church  of  Todi.) 

Alexander  Episcopus  Servus  Servorum  Die  Dilectis  Filiis  Priori 
et  Capitulo  Ecclesiae  Tudertinae  salutem  et  Apostolicam  bene- 
dictionem.  Volentes  Dilecto  Filio  Benedicto  Cajetani  Canonico 
Anagnino  gratiam  facere  specialem  recipiendi  eum  in  Ecclesia  vestra, 
in  qua  praebendarum  collatio  ad  vos  pertinere  dicitur,  in  Canonicum 
et  fratrem,  et  providendi  ei  de  praebenda,  si  vacet  ibidem  ad  praesens, 
vel  quamprimum  ad  id  obtulerit  se  facultas,  non  obstante  statute* 
ipsius  Ecclesiae  de  certo  Canonicorum  numero,  et  illo  quo  ordinatur 
quod  nullum  recipiatis  nisi  sit  in  Sacris  Ordinibus  constitutus, 
etiamsi  statuta  hujusmodi  sint  juramento  confirmata  Sedis  Apos- 

tolicae,  sive  quacumque  firmitate  vallata, 

per  alia  scripta  nostra  quibus  nolumus  ante  praesentem 

....  seu  si  vobis  ab  eadem  Sede  indultum  existat  quod  ad  recep- 
tionem  vel  provisionem  alicujus  minime  teneamini  per  literas  prae- 

dictas quae  de  indulto  hujusmodi   plenam  et  expressam 

non  fecrit  mentionem  secundum indulgentia  dictae 

Sedis,  de  qua  circa  tenorem  oporteat  in  nostris  literis  plenam  et 
expressam  mentionem  facere,  et  per  quam  effectus  anni  gratiae 
impediri  valeat  vel  differdi,  libera  auctoritate  concedimus  ante  prae- 
sentem facultatem  statutis per  receptionem  ipsius  .... 

nihilominus  roboratis.  Datum  Anagni  VI.  Idus  Junii  Pontificatua 
nostri  Anno  VI. 

DOCUMENT  (B). 

DECREE  OF  THE  CANONS  OF  TODI  IN  FAVOR  OF  BENEDICT  GAETANI. 

In  Nomine  Domini  Amen.  Anno  ejusdem  Nativitate  1260  In- 
dictione  III,  tempore  D.  Alexandri  PP.  IV  die  14  exsedentis  mensis 
Augustis  in  Choro  Ecclesiae  coram  DD.  Goffrido  Archidiacono 
Tudertino  D.  Bartolo  Juris  Civilis  professore,  D.  Jacobo  Cajetani  et 
Maccabrino  Cane.  S.  Joannis  de  Platea,  D.  Justinus  Prior,  D.  Bonae- 

455 


456  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

fidanza  Archipresbyter  S.  Terentiana,  D.  Ugolinus  Bonifazi,  D. 
Bonavera,  D.  Ugolinus  Lucii,  et  D.  Uffredutius  Canonic!  Ecclesiae 
Tudertinae  volentes  vener,  patri  D.  Pietro  Episcopo  Tudertino 
gratiam  facere  specialem  ac  sibi,  placere  Benedictum  Nepotem  ipsius 
D.  Episcopi,  Priorem  S.  Illuminatae  communiter  concorditer  ac 
liberaliter  recipiunt  in  ipsa  Ecclesia  in  eorum  canonicum  ac  fratrem, 
et  per  pacis  osculum  ac  etiam  per  pannos  Altaris  de  ipso  Canonicatu 
et  juribus  canonicatus  eundem  corporaliter  investierunt,  a  Summo 
Pontifice  eisdem  super  receptione  hujusmodi  tributa  licentia  occasione 
juramenti  quo  tenebantur  de  nn  recipiendo  aliquem  nisi  esset  in 
Sacris  Ordinibus  constitutus,  et  supra  aliis  quae  in  ipsis  Literis  Apos- 
tolicis  continentur. 


NOTE  (C). 

NOTE  RELATIVE  TO  THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  PETER  OP  ARAGON  AND  CHARLES  OF 
ANJOU    AGAINST    THE    INSINUATIONS    OF    POTTER. 

Whilst  narrating  the  embassy  confided  to  Gaetani  with  the  inten- 
tion of  restraining  Charles  from  fighting  a  duel  with  Peter  of 
Aragon,  there  was  brought  to  our  notice  a  book  by  Potter,  an  erudite 
historian,  but  of  notoriously  bad  faith,  who  seems  to  have  under- 
taken the  task,  not  of  expounding  the  truth,  but  of  making  history 
accessory  to  his  own  hatred  against  the  Church  and  the  sovereign 
Pontiffs.  The  base  and  dishonorable  passion,  whose  tendency  is  to 
build  and  obscure  reason,  which  it  inebriates  with  a  sweet  re- 
venge, failed  of  its  intent.  For  when  he  arrives  at  the  end  of  his 
chapters,  inebriated  by  revenge  which  he  relished  and  resting  with 
an  air  of  triumph  on  the  thousand  quotations  from  authors  devoid 
of  sound  judgment,  he  inspires  us  with  only  one  feeling  for  him, 
that  of  pity.  Describing  that  duel  he  declares,  "  according  to  writers 
of  the  times,"  (there  were  no  others  but  Villani a),  that  the  ambassa- 
dors of  Peter  swore  in  the  presence  of  Pope  Martin,  for  their  master, 
to  observe  the  conditions  of  the  duel,  and  he  condemns  the  annalist 
Oderic  Kinaldi,  who  declares  on  the  contrary  that  Pope  Martin  for- 
bade the  duel  under  pain  of  excommunication.  Finally  in  order  to 
lead  the  simple  minded  into  the  snare,  he  gives  us  to  understand  that 
Rinaldi  wrote  four  years  after  the  event,  and  for  that  reason  he  can- 
not be  an  authority;  and  besides  his  account,  said  he,  is  contrary  to 
the  Bull  of  Martin  published  against  Peter  of  Aragon,  precisely  be- 
cause he  failed  to  arrive  at  the  place  fixed  for  the  combat.  Now 
to  decide  with  an  assurance  so  magisterial,  Potter  should  learn  some 
facts  he  did  not  know. 

Without  doubt  the  authority  of  Villani  is  not  to  be  despised  in 
that  which  concerns  the  events  which  happened  in  his  time;  but 
on  the  other  hand  we  are  not  to  believe  blindly  the  testimony  of  a 

*Lib.  7,  c.  85,  86. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  457 

man  when  proofs  contradict  him.  Authentic  documents  are  always 
an  authority  superior  to  that  of  any  author  whatsoever,  because  they 
are  facts,  and  facts  are  undeniable.  Now  the  letter  of  Martin  IV  to 
Charles,  which  we  have  already  mentioned,  is  such  as  to  warrant  us 
not  to  believe  the  account  of  Villani.  The  oath  of  agreement  to 
the  duel  taken  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope,  and  the  confirmation  of  it 

by  the  same  cannot  be  reconciled  with  "  duellum repro- 

bamus,  irritamus  ac  penitus  vacuamus;  the  very  duel  the  Pope  de- 
clares that  "  non  sit  omnino  db  Ecclesia  tolerandum ;  "  nor  can  it  be 
reconciled  with  the  sudden  mission  entrusted  to  Gaetani,  to  prevent 
the  two  princes  from  fighting  a  duel.  Inasmuch  as  Potter  and  the 
others  have  not  succeeded  in  proving  the  falsity  of  the  Pope's  letter 
and  the  mission  of  Gaetani,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  to  accept  the 
statement  of  Villani  without  contradicting  sound  reason.  Rinaldi 
then  is  not  to  be  judged  as  a  writer  who  narrates  of  four  hundred 
years  after  the  event,  but  rather  after  he  had  examined  the  letter 
of  Pope  Martin,  and  the  authors  he  quotes.  We  may  add  that  the 
contemporary  writers  say  absolutely  nothing  about  the  oath  taken  in 
the  presence  of  the  Pope,  and  approved  by  him,  William  Nangis,  a 
Frenchman,  who  lived  in  that  age,  mentions  the  challenge,  but  has 
nothing  to  say  of  the  Papal  approbation;  there  is  no  mention  of  it 
by  Matthew  of  Westminster,  by  the  English  Friar  Trivett  in  his 
chronicle,2  by  Ptolemy  of  Lucca,3  Ferrettus  of  Vicenza,4  by  Nicholas 
Speciale,  Bartholomew  of  Neocastro,  by  Fazello,  Sicilians  and  en- 
emies of  Martin  IV,  these  last  three  would  have  unmercifully  as- 
sailed him,  if  they  had  known  that  he  approved  of  the  duel. 

Potter  perhaps  would  not  yield  to  these  reasons;  but  he  should 
acknowledg  the  letter  of  Pope  Martin,  unless  he  wishes  to  call  it 
spurious.  And  although  he  should  succeed  in  proving  it  false,  would 
he  succeed  in  suppressing  the  stubborn  testimony  of  other  docu- 
ments? We  entreat  Potter  especially  to  open  Vol.  35  of  Burmann, 
and  let  him  stop  at  page  61  of  the  collection  of  Sicilians  matters,  and 
he  will  read  this  title:  "Ada  de  pugna  Burdegalensi  indicia  inter 
" Petrum  Aragoniae  et  Carolum  Siciliae  reges"  These  acts  begin 
with  a  letter  of  Martin  IV  to  Charles  of  Sicily  which  agrees  exactly, 
as  regards  the  sense,  with  that  published  by  Rinaldi,  and  contains 
the  express  disapproval  of  the  duel.  This  letter  was  not  taken  from, 
the  Papal  archives,  but  from  a  MS.  of  the  Colbertian  Library  in 
Paris.  Let  Potter  read  it,  and  let  him  tell  us  if  Martin  IV  could 
forbid  more  energetically  the  disgraceful  duel,  and  if  he  should  swear 
so  blindly  by  the  testimony  of  one  writer,  such  as  Villani  was,  who 
mentions  the  Papal  approval  of  the  duel;  and  finally  let  him  tell  us 
from  this  example,  whether  the  infallibility  of  the  historian  consists 
in  a  multitude  of  quotations,  or  in  the  rigor  of  his  judgment  as 
critic. 

'Ad  annum  1282-1283— 

•Hist.  Eccl.  Book  XXIV,  c.  7,  8,  S.  R.  I.  T.,  p.  1188, 

4  Hist.  Eccl.  Book  L.  S.  R.  I.  T.,  p.  953.      •  Thesaurus  antiquitat,  etc. 


458  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

If  Potter  is  still  unconvenienced,  let  him  consult  the  letters  of 
Peter  of  Aragon  and  Charles  of  Anjou,  inserted  also  in  Burmann 
in  the  chapter  we  have  mentioned,  which  treat  extensively  of  that 
duel;  and  he  will  not  find  a  syllable  mentioning  the  Pope  being 
present  and  approving  the  personal  encounter  between  the  two 
princes. 

When  Peter  of  Aragon  and  Charles  of  Anjou  agreed  to  the  condi- 
tions of  the  duel,  they  were  not  in  the  same  city.  The  former  was  at 
Messina,  and  the  latter  at  Reggio  in  Calabria,  and  so  they  challenged 
by  letters.  The  one  of  Peter  ends  thus :  "  Datum  Messanae  tertio 
"  Kalendas  Januarii  anno  db  Incarnatione  Domini  millesimo  ducen- 
"  tesimo  octuagesimo  secundo,  regnorum  nostrorum  Aragoniae  anno 
"  septimo,  Siciliae  vero  primo"  That  of  Charles:  "Datum  Rerjii 
"  penultima  die  mensis  Decembris,  undecima  indictione,  anno  Domini 
"  millesimo  decentesimo  tertie,  regnorum  Jerusalem  anno  sexto,  Sicil- 
"  iae  vero  decimo  octavo."  And  the  oath  was  taken  neither  by 
Charles  nor  by  the  ambassadors  of  Peter,  but  instead  by  forty 
knights  deputed  by  both  parties.  "  Nos  autem  praefati  quadraginia 
"  milites,  videlicet,  etc.,  ad  preces  et  requisitionem  dicti  regis  Petri  " 

(and  in  the  other  of  Charles)  "  Bona  et  spontanea 

"  voluntate  nostra  promittimus  et  juramus  tactis  Evangeliis  sacro- 
"  sanctis  nos  legaliter  ac  ~bona  fide  proposse  factuos  et  curaturos  quod 
"  ipse  rex  Petrus  "  (and  in  the  other,  "  Carolus  ")  "  praedicta  omnia 
"per  eum  promissa  et  jurata  firmiter  adimplebit  et  inviolabiliter 
"  observabit."  It  is  evident  the  oath  was  not  made  in  presence  of 
the  Pontiff. 

Villani  relating  how  Peter  failed  to  fight  the  duel,  says :  "  Pope 
"  Martin  having  learned  that  king  Peter  had  failed  to  keep  his  en- 
"  gagement,  deprived  him  of  and  expelled  him  from  his  kingdom  as 
"  excommunicated,  a  perjurer,  a  rebel  and  an  unjust  retainer  of  the 
"  goods  of  the  Church ;  and  he  excommunicated  all  who  would  obey 
"  him  or  call  him  king."  Potter  concludes  from  these  words  that 
Pope  Martin  hurled  the  Bull  of  excommunication  against  Peter  in 
order  to  punish  him  for  having  failed  to  fight  the  duel  he  so  much 
desired.  Nothing  could  be  more  false.  The  Bull  against  Peter  was 
fulminated,  according  to  the  statement  of  Einaldi,  in  the  month 
of  March,  and  the  duel  was  to  have  taken  place  in  June. 

Now  these  are  the  pure  lies  upon  which  Potter  established  his 
theory  that  the  Roman  Church  approved  of  the  duel.  In  fact  in  a 
note  written  at  the  end  of  the  second  chapter  of  the  book  5th,  and 
to  which  he  sweetly  leads  the  reader,  after  having  convinced  him  of 
the  approbation  given  by  the  Pope  to  the  duel,  he  with  the  greatest 
authority  advances  this  proposition :  "  The  single  combats  were  made 
"  part  of  the  judgments  of  God ;  and  they  were  not  only  tolerated 
"  and  approved,  but  even  counselled,  preached  and  prescribed  by  the 
"  Church.  .  ." 

Let  the  reader  not  wonder;  for  the  facts  related  by  Potter  in  con- 
firmation of  his  statement  are  not  the  result  of  great  erudition.  If 
we  be  not  mistaken,  they  were  found  by  him  all  arranged  in  a  certain 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  459 

leork  called :  "  The  Code  of  Humanity"  under  the  word  "  Duel ". 
But  what  are  these  facts?  For  example,  that  in  the  year  983  the 
Emperor  Otho  II,  assisted  by  the  great  prelates  of  the  Empire,  pub- 
fished  laws  regarding  duelling,  and  commanded  that  the  authenticity 
of  titles  should  be  proved  by  a  single  combat;  that  in  the  beginning 
of  the  XI  century  the  monks  of  St.  Denis  asked  and  obtained  from 
King  Robert  the  power  to  defend  their  property  by  judicial  duels; 
that  in  the  year  1020  the  Archbishops  of  Ravenna,  Milan  and  Treves 
approved  of  the  laws  of  the  emperor  Henry  regarding  duelling: 
that  a  certain  cleric  of  the  diocese  of  Saintes  had  fought  a  duel  with 
William,  a  monk  of  Vendome.  We  tarry  here  to  tell  the  reader,  that 
the  last  fact  found  in  the  letters  of  Godfrey,  abbot  of  Vendome,  and 
Cardinal,  was  immediately  condemned  by  this  same  Godfrey.  Pot- 
ter himself  relates  this  condemnation :  "  Godfrey  condemns  this 
doubly,  at  first  as  being,  said  he,  contrary  to  ecclesiastical  law,  and 
secondly  to  the  decrees  of  the  Holy  See."  Potter  should  have  omit- 
ted this  condemnation  which  completely  reverses  his  statement 
of  the  duel,  "approved,  counselled,  preached  and  prescribed  l>y  the 
Church."  The  fact  that  two  clerics  had  fought  a  duel;  that  a  cer- 
tain number  of  bishops,  taken  separately,  had  approved  of  duelling; 
that  certain  churches  and  abbeys  had  recourse  to  this  means  of  de- 
fending their  rights,  do  not  suffice  to  prove  that  the  Roman  Church 
sanctioned  and  prescribed  this  cruel  and  brutal  custom.  Among 
numerous  other  citations  at  the  end  of  the  chapter  mentioned,  Potter 
quoted  also  from  Du  Cange;  but  we  doubt  if  he  read  the  article;  "Du- 
ellum  ei  Monomachia"  of  this  writer.  He  would  have  found  there  that 
duelling  as  a  proof  of  right  had  sprung  from  barbarism,  and  it  was 
not  sanctified  as  a  law  by  any  Pope,  or  by  any  council,  but  by  princes 
still  barbarous.  And  since  in  the  civil  court  there  had  been  no  other 
way  than  duelling  to  guarantee  his  interests  and  prove  his  right  of 
possession,  it  is  no  wonder  that  persons  even  consecrated  to  God 
shuld  use  the  duel  employing  to  fight  in  their  stead,  substitutes  whom 
they  called  "  Vicedomini."  If  then,  in  a  time  of  universal  barbarism, 
the  clergy  had  profaned  their  holy  calling  by  the  ferocity  of  duelling, 
one  cannot  conclude  from  these  particular  or  even  general  facts  that 
the  Church  sanctioned  and  prescribed  duels.  How  many  other  de- 
testible  habits  had  crept  in  among  the  clergy,  concubinage,  for  ex- 
ample, and  simony  ?  Yet  who  will  venture  to  say  that  this  wickedness 
was  sanctioned  by  the  Church? 

Potter  in  his  supplementary  note  speaks  also  of  the  prohibition  of 
the  Church  against  these  single  combats,  but  we  do  not  know  how  he 
succeeds  in  finding  the  first  example  of  this  prohibition  only  at  the 
late  date  of  the  Fourth  council  of  the  Lateran,  held  in  1215.  At 
that  time  he  seems  to  have  had  before  his  eyes  the  article,  "  Duel ", 
of  the  "  Code  of  Humanity,"  and  in  it  he  could  have  read  that  duels 
had  been  condemned  in  the  Council  of  Valencia  in  855.  Why  not 
relate  a  prohibition  so  old? 

And  to  go  back  to  times  even  more  remote,  it  will  be  sufficient  to 
read  the  canon  of  this  council.  This  is  the  beginning:  " Et  quia  ex 


460  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"  hujusmodi  juramentorum,  immo  perjuriorum,  contentione  etiam 
"  usque  ad  armorum  certamina  solet  prorumpi,  et  crudelissimo  spec- 
"  taculo  effunditur  cruor  belli  in  pace,  statuimus,  '  juxta  antiquum 
" Ecclesiae  obvservationis  morem,'  ut  quicumque  tarn  inigua  et 
"  Christianae  pad  tarn  inimica  pugna  alterum  occiderit,  seu  vul- 
"  neribus  debilem  redidderit,  velut  homicida  nequissimus  et  latro 
"  cruentus  ab  Ecclesiae  et  omnium  fidelium  coetu  separatus,  ad 
"  agendam  legitimam  poenitentiam  modis  omnibus  compellatur." 
Potter  then  should  admit  in  the  first  place  that  the  Roman  Church 
never  preached,  counselled,  and  prescribed  duelling;  that  on  the  con- 
trary she  has  always  expelled  from  her  communion  duellists  as  crim- 
inal homicides  and  sanguinary  robbers;  secondly,  that  this  sentence 
was  not  promulgated  so  late  as  the  Lateran  Council,  but  from  the 
IX  century  in  the  Council  of  Valencia;  and  finally  that  the  ancient 
custom  acknowledged  in  the  IX  century  "  Antiquum  ecclesiasticae 
observationis  morem"  means  that  the  Church  always  abominated 
and  condemned  duellists. 

From  all  these  we  draw  a  painful  consequence  for  Potter,  which  is 
that  he  has  erred  through  bad  faith  or  through  ignorance.  The  first 
fault  is  unpardonable;  the  other  can  be  pardoned  provided  he  is  will- 
ing to  know  it,  and  promises  resolutely  never  again  to  undertake  to 
write  the  facts  of  history  without  knowing  them.  Let  Potter  know 
that  we  address  these  words  to  him  not  only  as  a  Catholic,  but  as  an 
Italian.  For  as  his  Roman  Church,  defamed  by  him,  is  the  special 
support  and  glory  of  Italy,  in  reviling  her,  he  stabs  to  the  heart  our 
innocent  and  beloved  country. 


NOTE  (D). 

NOTE  RELATIVE  TO  THE  MASTER  OF  THE  COURT   (DOMINUS  CURIAE)   A  TITLE 
GIVEN  TO  BENEDICT  GAETANI  BY  PTOLEMY  OF  LUCCA. 

Friar  Ptolemy  of  Lucca  relates,  in  his  Annals  that  the  first  Cardi- 
nals to  hasten  to  Aquila,  were  James  Colonna,  Peter  Orsini,  and  Hugh 
Sequin ;  and  he  adds  that  they  became  masters  of  the  court :  "  Interim 
"  autem  Dominus  Jacobus  de  Colonna,  et  Dominus  Petrus  (no  other 
"  but  Orsini  was  called  by  that  name)  et  Dominus  Ugo  de  Bellioneo 
"  Aquilam  vadunt,  f  actique  sunt  domini  curiae."  He  continues : 
"  Quod  alii  cardinales  videntes.  Aquilam  properant.  Tune  venit 
"  Aquilam  Dominus  Benedictus  Cajetani,  qui  postea  Bonif acius  se- 
"  quens,  de  quo  credebatur,  quod  non  gratiose  videretur  ibidem,  eo 
"  quod  regem  Carolum  Perusiis  plurimum  exasperasset,  qui  statim 
"  suis  ministeriis  et  astutiis  f  actus  est  Dominus  curiae  et  amicus 
"  regis."  There  were  then  according  to  Ptolemy,  four  masters  of 
the  court,  Colonna,  Orsini,  the  Frenchman,  and  Gaetani,  who  ar- 
rived too  late  to  dominate,  because  the  former  three  had  already 

"S.  R.  I.  torn.  XI,  p.  1300. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  461 

taken  the  place.  But  then  many  do  not  dominate,  or  at  least  it  is 
necessary  that  these  many  should  agree.  Now  the  reader  will  re- 
member, that  in  the  conclave  at  Perugia,  Colonna  and  Orsini  were 
the  heads  of  the  opposing  parties ;  Villani  says  it  clearly :  "  And 
"  after  the  death  of  Nicholas  IV,  the  Papal  chair  remained  vacant 
"for  eighteen  months,  by  reason  of  the  division  among  the  Cardi- 
"  nals,  one  party  of  which,  wanting  a  Pope  to  the  liking  of  King 
"  Charles,  had  for  its  chief  Matthew  Rosso  Orsini ;  and  the  other 
"  party  opposed  to  this,  had  as  head  James  Colonna."  Now  how 
could  they  agree  in  dominating  under  a  Pope  acceptable  to  Orsini, 
since  he  wanted  a  Pope  friendly  to  Charles,  and  not  agreeable  to 
Colonna?  Colonna  then  could  not  be  numbered  among  the  masters 
of  the  Court,  nor  could  Gaetani  for  the  same  reason.  The  latter's 
ironical  interrogation  addressed  to  Cardinal  Latino  in  the  conclave 
at  Perugia  in  regard  to  the  visions  of  Peter  Morrone;  his  slow  and 
all  but  forced  departure  for  Aquila,  evidently  prove  that  he  was  not 
well  satisfied  with  the  election  of  Celestine.  As  the  enmity  was  still 
strong  between  him  and  Charles  the  Lame,  who  will  believe  that 
suddenly  by  those  "  ministeriis  et  astutiis "  he  had  become  such  a 
friend  of  the  King  as  to  make  him  yield  the  mastership  of  the 
court  (Curia).  Charles  was  the  true  " Dominus  Curiae,"  and  not 
Gaetani.  The  account  of  Stefaneschi  appears  to  us  to  be  more  worthy 

of  credence.    Two  cardinals  said  he,  came  first  to  Aquila : 

geminos  ex  ordine  Fratrum.    Nom  missos  gravitate  patrum, 

sed  sponte  ruentes."     They  were  Hugh,  the  Frenchman,  and  Matthew 

Orsini Ugonem.      Scilicet   Alvernum   ac   Ursino   stipite 

natum."  Let  us  notice  the  expression :  "  non  missos  sed  sponte 
ruentes."  This  indicates  the  discord  that  existed  between  these  two 
cardinals  and  the  others  who  remained,  and  especially  Gaetani,  the 
last  one  to  arrive.  These  two  men  took  charge  of  affairs,  since  the 
first  being  made  bishop  of  Ostia,  is  clearly  declared  by  Stephaneschi 
to  have  entered  into  the  secret  of  Charles  with  regard  to  the  promo- 
tion of  new  cardinals,  as  also  doubtless  the  other  two  Roman  cardi- 
nals, who  were  Matthew  and  Napoleon  Orsini,  partisans  of  Charles 
the  Lame.  But  Colonna  for  the  reasons  given  was  not  among  these. 
Stephaneschi  says  nothing  at  all  of  the  influence  of  Gaetani  at 
court,  nor  of  his  reconciliation  with  King  Charles.  We  can  conclude 
then  from  the  testimony  of  Stephaneschi  and  Ptolemy  of  Lucca, 
that  the  Papal  court  was  divided  into  two  parties,  the  one  led  by  Hugh 
Sequin  and  Peter  Orsini,  the  first  to  arrive  in  Acquila,  and  the 
other  by  Benedict  Gaetani.  Thus  is  explained  and  reconciled,  the 
numerous  masters  of  the  court  that  existed  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Ptolemy  of  Lucca.  As  regards  that  "  factus  amicus  regis  " 
of  his,  it  is  only  a  conjecture  founded  on  the  belief  the  chronicler 
of  Lucca  had,  that  Boniface  owed  his  election  to  Charles.  He  had 
to  reconcile  these  two  personages  in  order  to  justify  himself  in  saying 
that  the  one  favored  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  other.  But,  be- 
sides the  reasons  we  have  shown,  subsequent  facts  belie  this  reconcil- 
iation. 


462  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

If  there  was  an  affair  to  be  conducted  by  the  master  of  the  court 
(Curia),  it  was  assuredly  the  creation  so  important  of  new  cardinals. 
Now  the  reader  may  see  how,  Stephaneschi  afterwards  Cardinal  of 
St.  George,  relates  what  happened: 

"  Venerat  ecce  dies,  ignota  ad  culmina  tollens 

"  Qua  Caelestinus  proceres  augere  senatus 

"  Flagitat,  et  votum  complet :   nam  his  repetitos 

"  Sex  creat,  et   Gallos  septem,  paucosque  Latinos ; 

"  Quinque  tamen :   Binos  Fratres  sub  lego  morantes 

"Instituit  propria;  nullum  quern  subdita  sedi 

"  Immediata  parit  tellus,  ex  ordine  Patrum 

"  Murro  dedit.     Quae  causa  fuit,  quae  forma  creandi 

"  Hos  proceres,  si  nosse  cupis,  depromere  gratum  est. 

"  Fertur,  ut  annuimus,   Carolum  scripsisse  futures 

"  Pene  omnes  proceres ;  Eegique  placere  volentem 

"  Hos  Gallos  statuisse  viros  splendere  Galeris 

"Murronem,  reliquosque  Duces  celasse  rubentes 

"Hoc;  tribus  exceptis,  quos  jussit  operta  tenere; 

"  Scilicet  Alverno,  qui  longe  proescius  horum 

"  Extiterat  cum  Rege  patre,   ducibusque  duobus7 

"  Romanis.     Alios  proceres  non  certus  habebat 

"  Rumor  adusque  diem  Veneris,  quae  proxima  cursu 

"  Sabbata   praecessit.     Tune  omnes   advocat  una 

"  Pastor ;  et  ut  structus  f uerat,  suadente  ministro  • 

"  Astuto,  processia  Herus,  dans  nomina  scriptis 

"  Certa  sibi  procerum,  votumque  requirit  in  illis 

"  Consiliumque  Patrum  semotum.     Gaudet  ab  inde 

"  Se  fecisse  duos  Rex ;   mire  turbidus  autem 

"  Redditur  Alvernus,9  dum  sperat  ad  ardua  certum 

"  Assumi,  hec  scripta  legi,  proh !   nomina  cernit,  etc." 

If  the  sudden  and  unexpected  election  of  those  to  the  dignity  of 
the  Cardinalate  should  have  provoked  the  other  cardinals,  what  must 
have  been  the  indignation  of  Benedict  Gaetani,  when  he  learned 
that  the  leader  of  that  cabal  was  king  Charles,  whom  he  had  ex- 
pelled in  disdain  from  the  conclave  in  Perugia.  On  the  other  hand 
the  more  Gaetani  had  of  knowledge  and  skill  in  affairs,  the  more 
he  must  have  felt  piqued  at  being  cast  aside  in  this  affair,  as  a  man 
of  mediocrity,  one  who  could  be  beguiled  with  the  others.  We  lay 
stress  upon  all  this,  in  order  to  place  the  mind  of  the  reader  on 
guard  against  the  pretended  compact,  which,  according  to  Villani, 
was  made  between  Gaetani  and  Charles  after  the  abdication  of  Celes- 
tine. 

7 Matthew  Rosso  and  James  Colonna.  "Bartholomew  of  Capua. 

•  Nam  iste  Hugo  fecerat  inscribi  unum  amicum  suum  inter  alios  qui 
futuri  erant  Cardinales:  et  subito,  cum  facta  esset  publicatio  aliorum 
cardinalium,  non  audivit  suum  nominari:  de  quo  fuit  dictus  Hugo  valde 
stupefactus. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  463 

NOTE  (E). 

CONCERNING  THE   ABDICATION  OF  POPE   ST.   PETER  CELESTIXE. 

If  in  the  course  of  our  narration  we  have  not  spoken  of  that  blar- 
ing trumpet,  nor  those  other  ingenious  impositions  employed  by 
Cardinal  Gaetani  to  intimidate  St.  Peter  Celestine  and  make  him  ab- 
dicate, it  was  out  of  respect  for  the  dignity  of  history;  but  as  cer- 
tain readers  might  suppose  there  was  no  other  reason,  we  propose 
to  return  to  these  calumnies.  This  is  the  version  of  Ferrettus  of 
Vicenza : 10  The  Cardinals  were  informed  of  the  resolution  of  Celes- 
tine: "Quod  prudens  et  astutus  Benedictus  Cajetanus  mente  con- 
"  cipiens,  et  ad  id  decus  animum  suum  audacter  extollens,  illi  se 
"  familiarem  et  gratum  solito  magis  exhibuit,  et,  ut,  perhibent,  in 
"  obsequis  studiosum.  Atque  interea,  dum  saepe  sibi  laudatum  vitae 
"  solitariae  otium  intelligeret,  rite  judicasse  credebat,  ipsumque  magig 
"  ceremoniis  et  templorum  ministerio,  quam  rei  susceptae  vocitabat 
"aptissimum:  cujus  persuasione  major  subibat  impetus  resignandi. 
"  Ferunt  etiam  et  hunc  virum  dolosum,  quatenus  adhoc  ilium  flag- 
"  rantius  incitaret,  dum  somno  incitatus  noctu  Deum  contemplare- 
"  tur,  per  foramen,  quod  arte  fabricaverat,  voce  tenui  saepe  dixisse, 
"  se  coeli  nuntium  advenisse  illi,  ut  illecebris  f alsi  nundi  relictis, 
"  soli  Deo  servire  disponeret.  Quamobrem  idem  Papa  degener  ac 
"  trepidus,  et  in  proposito  consepto  persistens,  coram  fratrum  suorum 
"  aspectu  claves  sacros  sponte  projecit,  et  Chlamydem  sacram  exuens, 
"  honori  summo  renunciavit."  Thus  wrote  Ferrettus  Thirty-two  years 
after  the  events  he  narrates,11  and  far  from  the  place  where  they 
happened.  Now  let  us  see  how  it  is  related  by  historians  closer  to 
the  times  and  place,  some  of  whom  were  eye-witnesses. 

There  exists  in  the  secret  archives  of  the  Vatican,12  a  manuscript  en- 
titled: A  treatise  on  his  entire  life  (St.  Peter  Celestine's)  by  a  man 
who  was  greatly  attached  to  him.  In  this  is  described  the  interview 
between  Gaetani  and  the  Saint:  "  Coepit  (Celestinus)  cogitare  de 
"  onere  quod  portabat,  et  quomodo  posset  illud  abjicere  absque  peri- 
"  culo  et  discrimine  suae  animae.  Ad  hos  suos  cogitatus  advocavit 
"  unum  sagacissimum  atque  probatissimum  cardinalem  Benedictum, 
"  qui  ut  hoc  audivit,  gavisus  est  nimium  et  respondit  et  dicens, 
"quod  posset  papatui  libere  renunciare,  et  dedit  idem  exemplum 
"  aliquorum  pontificum  qualiter  olim  renunciaverant.  Hoc  illo  au- 
"  dito  quod  posset  papatui  libere  renunciare,  ita  in  hoc  firmavit  cor 
"  suum,  quod  nullus  ilium  ab  illo  potuit  removere."  This  observa- 
tion that  the  advice  of  Gaetani  confirmed  the  Saint  in  his  resolu- 
tion to  abdicate  is  false,  because  it  is  contrary  to  facts.  If  the  advice 
of  Gaetani  had  exercised  such  an  influence  over  Celestine  he  would 

10  S.  R.  I.  Tom.  IX,  p.  966. 

11  See  Muratori,  introduction  to  the  history  of  Ferrettus  S.  R.  I.  T.  IX, 
p.  939.  MArmar  VII,  c.  1,  n.  1. 


464  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

not  have  asked  the  advice  of  other  cardinals,  as  he  is  reported  to 
have  done  by  Stephaneschi : 


Vocat    inde    alium,    quo    certius    esset, 

Consilium. 

Attamen  absconsi  pandet  secreta  cubilis 
Nonnullis    procerum,    quorum    consulta    reposcit 
His  super. 

Gaetani  then  was  but  a  simple  counsellor  called  like  the  others  to 
give  his  opinion.  Peter  d'Ailly  of  Compiegne,  a  strong  enemy  of 
Boniface,  relates  the  fact  of  the  abdication  as  follows:  "Ibi  ergo 
"  assidue  cogitare  coepit  qualiter  hujusmodi  pontifical!  honore,  velut 
"  importabili  onere  deposito,  abjectaque  temporali  sollicitudine,  ad 
"  antiquam  solitudinem  repeteret.  Cumque  peritorum  consillio  id 
"  jure  ac  sine  animae  suae  discrimine  fieri  posse  comperisset,  ita  in 
"  hoc  cor  suum  animumque  firmavit,  ut  ab  illo  proposito  nullus  hunc 
"  dimovere  potuerit."  13  Here  Gaetani  is  not  even  named,  so  much 
was  his  way  of  giving  it  similar  to  that  of  the  others.  The  au- 
thor of  the  History  of  Florence 14  states  that :  Gaetani  presents 
himself  "  to  the  Holy  Father,  perceiving  that  he  had  a  wish  of  .re- 
signing the  papacy."  Gaetani  then  did  not  suggest  this  desire  to 
Celestine,  but  he  learned  it  from  him.  And  the  reason  why  this' 
desire  entered  the  mind  of  Celestine,  the  annalist  of  Milan  clearly 
states : 15  "  Qui  videns  suam  insufficientiam  papatui  renunciavit." 
It  was  from  a  feeling  of  his  own  unfitness.  Peter  della  Voragine  in 
the  Chronicle  of  Genoa  affirms  the  same : 16  "  Quocirca  ipse  videns 
"  suam  inexperientiam,  salubri  ductus  consilio,  Constitutionem  fecit, 
"  quod  si  aliquis  Papa  insufficiens  inveniretur,  posset  papatum  libere 
"  resignare.  Quo  facto,  cum  papatum  per  sex  menses  vel  circa  re- 
"  tinuisset,  in  festo  S.  Luciae  libere  resignavit."  Not  one  word 
about  Gaetani.  Therefore  if  this  constant  feeling  of  his  own  unfit- 
ness  for  the  Papacy,  which  made  itself  more  manifest  by  the  sad  turn 
of  affairs;  if  the  fear  of  the  loss  of  his  soul  urged  him  to  resign, 
Gaetani  should  not  be  held  responsible  for  this  determination.  The 
verses  addressed  to  the  Saint  by  Jacopone,  whilst  he  was  sighing 
ardently  to  return  to  his  hermitage,  precipitated  the  execution  of  his 
project.  By  these  verses  he  wished  to  intimidate  Celestine.  The 
complaint  which  Jacopone  poured  into  the  ears  of  the  Saint  was  very 
unbecoming;  this  unhappy  man  felt  only  too  well  the  weight  of  pre- 
benders,  barterers  and  other  such,  of  whom  the  friar  speaks,  and 
against  whom  the  Pope  did  not  know  how  to  defend  himself.  In  fact 
his  anguish  was  clearly  expressed  in  those  words  which  came  from 
his  heart  in  the  cell  that  had  been  erected  in  the  castle  at  Naples. 
Let  the  reader  not  think  that  we  or  Stephaneschi  have  forged  these 

18Apud.  Surium,  Tom.  3,  die  19  Maii.  "S.  R.  I.  T.  XVI    t.  683. 

"Annal.  Mediol,  S.  R.  I.  T.  16,  p.  683.  16  S.  R.  I.  T.  9,  p.  54. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  465 

words.    The  Saint  really  uttered  them,  and  repeated  them  himself  to 
this  very  author,  who  affirms  them  in  the  following  verses : 


Et  meditans  sibimet  lacrymabilis  inquit 

(Ut  nos  viva  patris  docuit  vox). 

In  the  presence  of  the  testimony  of  numerous  writers  of  incon- 
testable authority ;  in  the  face  of  the  true  reasons  which  moved  Peter 
Celestine  to  abdicate,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  account  of  Ferrettus,  so 
greedily  taken  up  by  many,  cannot  be  considered  as  an  expression  of 
the  truth.  The  reader  will  remark  that  the  recital  of  Ferreto  rests  on 
the  words  "  ut  perhibent;  f  erunt"  on  the  rumors  then  current.  Now 
we  ask  what  value  they  would  have  as  testimony  at  the  time  when  a 
false  opinion  was  formed  by  the  defamatory  libel  of  the  Colonnas 
and  the  proceedings  begun  by  Philip  the  Fair  against  the  memory  of 
Boniface.  The  Colonnas,  and  especially  James,  the  Cardinal,  who 
was  at  Naples  and  assisted  at  the  abdication  of  Celestine,  would 
they  have  been  ignorant  of  the  artifices  of  Gaetani?  And  if  they 
had  knwn  them,  would  their  charity  towards  the  implacable  Boniface 
have  allowed  them  to  pass  them  over  in  silence,  when  they  believed 
strongly  that  he  was  a  false  Pope? 


DOCUMENT  (F). 

PROFESSION  OF  FAITH  OF  BENEDICT  GAETANI  BEFORE  HIS  ELEVATION  TO  THE 

PAPACY. 

In  Nomine  Sanctae,  et  Individuae  Trinitatis,  Anno  Dominicae 
Incarnationis  1294.  Indictione  viij.  Ego  Benedictus  Gaietanus 
Presbyter  Cardinalis,  et  electus,  ut  fiam  per  Dei  gratiam  hujus 
sanctae  Sedis  Apostolicae  humilis  Minister,  profiteer  tibi,  B.  Petre 
Apostolorum  Princeps,  cui  Claves  Eegni  Coelestis  ad  ligandum, 
atque  solvendum  in  Coelo,  atque  in  Terra  Creator,  atque  Redemptor 
omnium  Dominus  Jesus  tradidit,  inquiens :  "  Quaecumque  ligaveris 
super  terrain,  erunt  ligata  et  in  Coelis,  et  quaecumque  solveris  super 
terram  erunt  soluta  et  in  Coelis,"  sancteque  tuae  Ecclesiae,  quam 
hodie  tuo  prsesidio  regendam  suscipio,  quod  quandiu  in  hac  misera 
vita  constitutus  fuero,  ipsam  non  deseram,  non  abnegabo,  non  abdi- 
cabo  aliquatenus,  neque  ex  quacumque  causa,  cuiusque  metus,  vel 
periculi  occasione  dimittam,  vel  me  segregabo  ab  ea;  sed  verae  Fidei 
rectitudinem,  quam  Christo  auctore  tradente,  per  te,  et  beatissimum 
Coapostolum  Paulum,  perque  successores  vestros  usque  ad  exiguita- 
tem  meam  perlatam  in  tua  sancta  Ecclesia  reperi,  totis  conatibus 
meis,  usque  ad  animam,  et  sanguinem  custodiam,  tarn  de  sanctae, 
et  individuae  Trinitatis  Mysterio,  quae  unus  est  Deus,  quam  dis- 
pensatione,  quae  secundum  carnem  est.  Unigeniti  Filii  Domini 
Nostri  Jesu  Christi,  et  de  ceteris  Ecclesiae  Dei  dogmatibus  sicut  in 
universalibus  Conciliis,  et  Constitutionibus  Apostolicprum  Pon- 


466  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

tificum,  probatissimorumque  Ecclesiae  Doctorum  scriptis  sunt  com- 
mendata,  id  est  quaecumque  ad  rectitudinem  vestrae  rectae  Ortho- 
doxae  Fidei  a  te  traditionem  recipiunt,  conservare.  Sancta  quoque 
octo  universalia  Concilia,  idest  Nicenum,  Constantinopolitanum, 
Ephesinum,  Primum  Calcedonense,  Quintum,  et  Sextum  item  Con- 
stantinopolitanum, ad  unum  apicem  immutilata  servare,  et  pari 
honore,  et  veneratione  digna  habere,  et  quae  praedicaverunt,  et  stat- 
uerunt,  omnimode  sequi,  et  praedicare,  et  quaecumque  condemna- 
verunt,  condemnare  ore,  et  corde.  Diligentius  autem,  et  vivacius 
Apostolicorum  Nostrorum  Pontificum,  quaecumque  Synodaliter  con- 
stituerunt,  et  probata  sunt,  confirmare,  et  indeminuta  servare,  et 
sicut  ab  iis  satuta  sunt,  in  sui  vigoris  sublimitate  custodire :  quaeque, 
vel  quandiu  vixero,  omnia  Decreta  Canonum  Praedecessorum 
quos  condemn averunt,  et  abdicaverunt,  simili  condemnare  sententia, 
vel  abdicate:  disciplinam,  vel  Ritum  Ecclesiae  sicut  inveni  a  sanctis 
Praedecessoribus  meis  traditam,  et  servatam  reperi,  non  diminuere, 
vel  mutare,  aut  aliquam  novitatem  admittere,  sed  ferventer,  ut  eorum 
hie  vere  discipulus,  et  sequipedem  totius  mentis  meae  conatibus, 
quae  tradita  canonice  comperio,  servare,  ac  venerari.  Si  quae  vero 
emerserint  contra  Canonicam  disciplinam  filiorum  meorum  S.  R.  E. 
Cardinalium,  cum  quorum  consilio,  consensu,  directione,  et  memora- 
tione  ministerium  meum  geram,  et  peragam,  consilio  emendare,  aut 
patienter,  excepta  fidei,  aut  Christianae  Religionis  gravi  offensione, 
tua,  ac  beatissimi  Coapostoli  tui  Pauli  patrocinante  intercessione 
tolerate,  sacrosque  Canones,  et  canonica  instituta  Pontificum,  ut 
divina,  et  coelestia  mandata,  Deo  auxiliante,  custodire,  utpote  Deo,  et 
tibi  sciens  redditurum  me  de  omnibus,  quae  profiteer,  et  quandiu 
vixero,  egero,  vel  oblitus  fuero,  districtam  in  divino  judicio  rationem; 
cujus  sanctissimae  Sedi  diurna  dignatione,  te  patrocinante,  praesideo, 
et  vicem  tuis  intercessionibus  adimpleo.  Eris  autem  in  ilia  terri- 
bili  die  propitius  haec  conanti,  et  diligenter  servare  curanti.  Adju- 
torium  quoque  ut  prsebeas  obsecro  in  hac  corruptibili  vita  constitute, 
irreprehensibilis  ante  conspectum  Judicis  omnium  Domini  Nostri 
Jesu  Christi,  dum  terribiliter  de  commissis  advenerit  judicare,  ut 
faciat  me  dextrae  partis  participem,  et  inter  fideles  Discipulos,  et 
Successores  consortem.  Hanc  autem  Professionem  per  Nortarium,  et 
Scriniarium  S.  R.  E.  me  jubente  scriptam,  propria  manu  subscripsi, 
et  tibi,  beate  Apostole  Petre,  Apostolorum  Principi  pura  mente  et 
devota  conscientia  super  sanctum  Corpus,  et  Altare  tuum  sinceriter 
offero. 

DOCUMENT  (G). 

ENCYCLICAL  OF  BONIFACE  WITH  REGARD  TO  HIS  PONTIFICATE. 

Bonifacius,  etc.  venerabilibus  fratribus  archiepiscopo  Senonensi  et 
eius  suffraganeis  salutem,  etc. 

Gloriosus  et  mirabilis  in  operibus  suis  Deus,  qui  cum  sit  in 
misericordia  copiosus,  in  hujus  orbis  orbita  plena  malis,  conferta 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  467 

dissidiis,  innumeras  miserationes  exercet;  Ecclesiam  suam,  quam 
ipse  summus  opifex  rerum  instituit,  ac  supra  fidei  firmam  petram 
alta,  et  solida  fabrica  stabilivit,  opportunis  favoribus  prosequi  non 
desistit.  Assistit  enim  illi  miserator  et  propitiator  assiduus,  non 
obdormiens,  nee  dormitans  in  suarum  opportunitatum  eventibus 
pervigil  custos  eius.  Ipse  siquidem  sibi  est  in  turbatione  pacatio,  in 
tribulatione  solamen,  in  necessitate  succursus.  Tuncque  maxime  in 
adjutorium  ejus  sua  pietas  larga  diffunditur,  cum  adversus  illam 
mundi  nubila  tempore  calligante  levantur,  quae  inter  molestias  et 
afflictiones  intrepida,  colligens  in  vexatione  vigorem,  in  ipsa  malorum 
iristantia  convalescit.  Nam  divino  semper  munita  praesidio,  nee 
comminationum  strepitu  deterretur,  nee  adversitatum  superatur  in- 
cursu;  sed  in  terroribus  tutior,  et  constantior  in  adversis,  pressa 
praevalet,  passa  triumphat.  Haec  est  area,  quae  per  confluentias  et 
multiplicationes  aquarum  elevatur  in  altum,  et  subactis  culminibus 
montium,  libera  et  secura  profundas  importuosi  diluvii  calcat  undas. 
Haec  est  utique  navis,  quae,  vento  contrario  irruente,  strepentis 
maris  furibundis  motibus  agitatur:  firma  tamen  et  solida  fragoribus 
non  dissipatur  aequoreis,  nee  marini  furoris  rapiditate  sorbetur;  sed 
elatas  procellas  obruens,  ac  spumosa  et  tumida  freta  sternens,  trium- 
phanter  exequitur  suae  navigationis  incessum,  quae  ad  vitalem  Crucis 
salvificae  arborem  rectae  intentionis  alis  totaliter  elevatis,  in  coelum 
semper  intenta  procellosum  intrepide  mundi  pelagus  peragrat,  eo 
quod  secum  habet  seduli  gubernatoris  auxilium  marium  praeceptoris. 
Unde  regente  illo  et  dirigehte  salubriter,  ac  Spiritu  sancto  flante, 
adversitatum  quarumlibet  nebulis  dissipatis,  victorosa  peregrinationis 
liberum  agit  iter  ad  patriae  coelestis  portum  supernis  nutibus  feliciter 
perducenda:  cumque  sic  adversis  innumeris  prematur,  et  turbetur 
Ecclesia,  ilia  in  intimis  ipsam  acerbius  sauciat,  duriusque  ferit 
adversitas,  cum  pastore  utili  et  provide  viduatur.  Sed  licet  saepius 
Ecclesia  eadem,  pastoris  regimine  destituta,  longe  viduitatis  lamenta 
pertraxerit,  expectando  gemebunda  diutius  consolationem  plenariam 
successoris;  in  hujusmodi  tamen  moeroris  nubilo  dignanter  illi 
dementia  divinae  pietatis  illuxit,  doloribus  et  necessitatibus  suis 
opportune  subveniens  per  substitutionem  optatam  et  delectabilem  novi 
sponsi,  ac  earn  de  amissione  prioris  interdum  inutilis  per  promotionem 
mulcebrem  accommodi  successoris  instaurans. 

Sane  vacante  Romana  Ecclesia  per  liberam  et  spontaneam  dilecti 
filii  fratris  Petri  de  Murrone,  olim  Romani  Pontificis,  cessionem 
coram  venerabilibus  fratribus  episcopis,  et  dilectis  filiis  nostris  pres- 
byteris  et  diaconis  Cardinalibus,  de  quorum  numero  tune  eramus,  ex 
certis  rationabilibus  et  legitimis  causis  factam  ab  ipso  in  festo  beatae 
Luciae  virginis  proximo  praeterito,  et  a  Cardinalibus  proedictis 
admissam;  cum  illam  posse  sic  legitime  fieri,  et  primorum  gesta 
Pontificum,  et  constitutio  declararent  apertius,  et  ad  earn  etiam 
faciendam  expressus  accesserit  Cardinalium  praedictorum  assensus; 
Cardinales  ipsi,  considerantes  attentius  quam  sit  onusta  dispendiis, 
quam  gravia  malorum  incommoda  secum  trahat  urolixa  ecclesiae 
memoratae  vacatio;  et  propterea  votis  ardentibus  cupientes  per 


468  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

efficacia  et  accelerata  remedia  hujusmodi  periculis  obviare,  die  jovis 
X.  Kalen.  januarii  post  festum  subsequentem  praedictum,  missarum 
solemniis  ad  honorem  Sancti  Spiritus  celebratis,  hymnoque  solito 
cum  devotione  cantato,  se  in  quodam  conclavi  apud  Castrum  novum 
civitati  Neapolitanae  contiguum,  ubi  tune  idem  frater  Petrus  cum 
sua  residebat  familia,  incluserunt,  ut  per  mutui  commoditatem  col- 
loquii  ecclesiae  praedictae  provisio,  superna  cooperante  virtute, 
celerius  proveniret.  Die  vero  veneris  immediate  sequente  praefati 
Cardinales,  mentis  oculis  erectis  ad  Dominum,  pia  desideria  benignius 
prosequentem,  in  electionis  negotio  ferventibus  studiis,  ut  praedicta 
vitarentur  incommoda,  procedentes;  et  tandem,  cum  divina  dementia, 
ecclesiae  praelibatae  compatiens,  earn  nollet  ulterioris  vacationis 
periculis  subjacere;  ad  personam  nostram,  licet  immeritam,  intentum 
animum  dirigentes,  quamquam  inter  eos  quamplures  magis  idonei,  et 
digniores  etiam  haberentur,  nos  tune  tituli  S.  Martini  presbyterum 
Cardinalem  in  summum  Pontificem  canonice  elegerunt,  gravis  oneris 
sarcinam  nostris  debilibus  humeris  imponendo  Nos  autem  profunda, 
et  sedula  meditatione  pensantes  difficultatem  officii  pastoralis,  con- 
tinui  laboris  angustias,  et  praecellentiam  apostolicae  dignitatis,  quae 
sicut  honoris  titulis  altioris  attollit,  magnitudine  ponderis  deprimit 
gravioris;  attendentes  insuper  nostrae  multiplicis  imperfectionis  in- 
stantiam,  expavimus  et  haesitavimus  vehementer,  nimioque  concus- 
sum  extitit  stupore  cor  nostrum.  Nam  cum  ad  tolerandas  particulares 
vigilias  vix  nobis  possibilitas  nostra  sufficiat,  ad  universalis  speculae 
solicitudinem  vocamur,  et  intolerabile  apostolici  ministerii  jugum 
instanter  debilitatis  nostrae  cervici,  jugiter  supportandum,  ac  meri- 
torum  non  suffulti  praesidio,  ad  suscipiendas  apostolorum  principis 
Petri  claves,  et  gerendum  super  omnes  ligandi  et  solvendi  pontificium 
angebamur.  Verumtamen  ne  divinae  providentiae  opus  impedire 
forsitan  videremur,  aut  nolle  nostrae  voluntatis  arbitrium  suo  bene- 
placito  conformare;  ac  etiam  ne  corda  electorum  concordia  per 
nostrae  dissensionis  objectum  ad  discordiam  verteremus,  voluntati- 
bus  tandem  acquievimus  eorumden,  ad  subeundum  jugum  hujusmodi 
nostros  impotentes  humeros  submittendo :  non  quod  de  aliqua  nostrae 
probitatis  virtute  fiduciam  habeamus,  sed  quia  in  ejus  speramus 
dementia,  qui  confidentes  in  se  non  deserit;  sed  eis  propitius  oppor- 
tunis  auxiliis  semper  adest,  quique  de  sublimi  polorum  solio  Ecclesiam 
sponsam  suam  intuetur  misericorditer  et  tuetur,  suaeque  illam  exal- 
tare  non  desinit  copiosis  beneficiis  pietatis. 

Vestris  igitur  et  aliorum  suffragiis  propter  imperfectum  nostrum 
propensius  indigentes,  universitatem  vestram  affectuose  rogamus, 
hortamur  attentius,  et  requirimus  confidenter,  quatenus  assidua  nos 
apud  aeterni  Regis  clementiam  intercessione  juvetis,  humilitatem 
nostram  sibi  devotis  supplicationibus  commendando,  ut  super  nos 
gratiae  suae  dona  multiplicet,  et  rorem  uberem  solitae  benignitatis 
effundat,  ut  actus  nostros  ad  ipsum  devotissime  dirigentes,  Ecclesiam 
suam,  quam  nobis  committi  voluit,  salubriter  regere,  as  de  universo 
ipsius  grege,  nostrae  vigilantia?  credito,  curam  gerere  debitam,  sicut 
expedit,  valeamus.  Nos  vero  stabiliter  in  animo  gerimus  vobis  et 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  469 

vestris  ecclesiis  benignis  adesse  praesidiis,  ac  vestrum  et  earum  pro- 
fectum  condignis  favoribus  promovere.  Dat.  Laterani  IX.  kal.  febr. 
pont.  nostri  anno  1. 


DOCUMENT  (H). 

LETTER  OF  BONIFACE  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR. 

Celsitudinem  regiam  rogamus  et  hortamur  attente,  ac  obsecramus 
in  Domino  Jesu  Christo,  quatenus  diligenti  meditatione  considerans, 
quod  judicium  diligit  Regis  honor,  metas  justitiae  curiosus  observes, 
illamque  sincere  diligere  studeas,  aequitatem  non  deserens,  clemen- 
tiam  non  omittens;  ut  subjectus  tibi  populus  copiosus  in  pacis  pul- 
chritudine  sedeat,  et  in  requie  opulenta  quiescat.  Ecclesiam  insuper 
raatrem  tuam  et  ipsius  praelatos,  nostri  utique  Salvatoris  ministros, 
caeterasqne  personas  ecclesiasticas  ejus  obsequiis  dedicates;  quin 
potius  in  illis  Regem  coelorum  et  dominum,  per  quern  regnas  et  reg- 
eris,  incessanter  et  solerter  honorans,  ipsos  regii  f  avoris  ope  conf  oveas, 
et  in  plenitudine  libertatum,  aliorumque  suorum  jurium  efficaciter 
protegere  studeas  et  tueri,  sicque  in  iis,  tamquam  filius  benedictionis 
et  gratiae  te  geras  et  dirigas,  quod  clarae  memoriae  progenitores 
tuos,  qui  erga  praefatam  Ecclesiam  summae  devotionis  et  reverentiae 
titulis,  dum  viverent,  claruerunt,  non  solum  imitari  solicite,  sed 
etiam  evidenter  excedere  dignoscaris  ad  laudem  et  gloriam  Dei  Patris, 
et  celebre  magnumque  tui  honoris  et  nominis  incrementum.  De 
nobis  autem  utpote  patre  benevolo  et  sincero,  qui  te  in  minori  etiam 
officio  constituti  affectuose  dileximus,  et  diligere  non  cessamus,  spem 
certam,  et  fiduciam  firmam  gerens  in  tuis,  et  ejusdem  regni  negotiis, 
et  opportunitatibus  quae  occurrent,  ad  nos  recurrere  non  postponas. 
Nam  in  iis  super  quibus  ex  parte  regia  fuerimus  requisiti,  libenter, 
quantum  cum  Deo  poterimus,  votis  regiis  annuemus,  tarn  et  ejusdem 
regni  prosperitatem  omnimodam,  non  solum  studiis  conservare  solic- 
itis,  sed  etiam  plenis  augumentare  favoribus  intendentes.  Datum  ut 
supra. 


NOTE  AND  DOCUMENT  (I). 

IMPRISONMENT   AND   DEATH   OF   ST.    PETER   CELESTINE. 

Stephaneschi,  an  eyewitness,  relates  the  imprisonment  of  Celestine 

thus:  " Ut  littoribus  Vestiae  civitatis  maris  Adriatic! 

"  inventum  (Celestinum)  fore  comperit  (quatenus  orbis  sui  eccles- 
"  iaeque  discrimina  vitaret)  solemnioribus  a  se  Siciliaque  Carolo 
"  Secundo  Rege  transmissis  nuntiis,  consentientem  Anagniam  meare 
"  fecit ;  blande  suscipit,  laudemque  exhibuit  acquitescenti  Praesulis 
"  monitis  Castro  Fumonis  Campaniae  provinciae  morari.  Ubi  assue- 
"  tarn,  sicuit  prius,  vitam  agens  Eremiticam,  nolens  laxioribus,  qnibus 


470  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"  poterat,  uti,  anno  millesimo  ducentesimo  monagesimo  sexto  snacte 
"  religiose  defunctus " 

Ptolemy  of  Lucca,  a  contemporary  writer  and  an  eyewitness,  says, 

" in  custodia  ponitur  ac  tenetur  pro  cavendo  scandalo 

"  Romanae  Ecclesiae,  quia  apud  aliquos  dubitabatur,  an  'cedere 
"  potuisset,  et  sic  poterat  schisma  in  Ecclesia  generari.  Tentus 
"  igitur  in  custodia,  non  quidem  libere,  honeste  tamen." 17  The 
account  of  John  Villani  also  a  contemporary  is  almost  the  same: 
"  He  was  kept  in  the  castle  of  Fumone  in  a  pleasant  captivity."  18  He 
says  nothing  at  all  about  harsh  treatment  or  the  famous  nail.  George 
Stella,  an  enemy  of  Boniface,  in  his  annals  writes :  "  Ipsum 
(Coelestinum)  jubens  custodire  ad  evitanda  scandala."  19  Now  with 
this  array  of  testimony  of  the  writers  of  the  times,  can  any  reliance 
be  placed  in  the  words  of  authors  writing  long  after  the  times  in 
which  the  evens  happened?  The  cruelities  practised  by  Boniface  on 
St.  Peter  Celestine  were  related  at  great  length  and  in  a  most  pitiable 
tone  by  Peter  d'Ailly,  who  was  born  fifty  years  after  the  death  of 
Celestine,  and  who  was  a  Frenchman.  Now  would  he  know  anything 
clear  and  truthful  on  this  question,  in  the  country  of  Nogaret  and 
Philip  the  Fair?  The  reader  will  find  an  admirable  proof  of  the 
innocence  of  Boniface,  and  the  confirmation  of  that  which  we  have 
said  on  the  abdication,  captivity  and  death  of  Celestine,  in  some 
chapters  of  the  life  of  the  Saint,  as  yet  unpublished,  but  which  exists 
in  the  Vatican  library. 

It  is  a  very  beautiful  book,  in  manuscript,  in  quarto  of  double 
columned  pages,  and  from  its  style  of  characters  is  judged  to  be  a 
work  of  the  XV  century.  The  preface  and  the  narration  evidently 
prove  that  the  author  was  a  disciple  of  St.  Peter  Celestine.  The  life 
is  divided  into  three  parts:  "Ad  honorem  8.  Trinitatis,  cut  vita 
"  Petri  placuit,  et  confusionem  hostis  triplicis,  quern  idem  Petrus 
"  triumphando  vicit."  Then  he  continues :  "  Primam  vero  partem 
"  ipsius  libelli  idem  pater  sanctus  (Coelestinus)  propria  manu  scripis 
"  ad  aedificationem  proximi  et  Christi  laudem,  cujus  gloriae  militavit." 
These  are  the  chapters  that  relate  to  the  above  facts.  The  reader  will 
decide  whether  confidence  can  be  placed  in  a  disciple  of  the  Saint 
and  whether  it  can  be  presumed  that  the  wickedness  of  Boniface 
would  have  been  palliated  by  a  man,  who  undoubtedly  deplored  the 
retirement  of  the  founder  of  his  order  from  the  Papacy. 


HIS  RENUNCIATION  OF  THE  PAPACY. 
CAP.  XVII. 

"  Erat  ei  temporalis  vita  f  astidio :  def ormis  et  squalida  videbatur 
"  species  terrenorum :  et  ad  solam  pulchritudinem  Jesu  Christi  con- 
"  templandam  pariter  et  habendam,  toto  mentis  rapiebatur  excessu. 

"Hist.  Eccl.,  cap.  34.  "Cap.  V. 

"Annal.  Geno.  S.  R.  I,  p.  1026. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  •    4.71 

"  At  vero  beatus  hie  vir  mirae  simplicitatis,  et  in  spectantibus  ad 
"  regimen  Ecclesiae  inexpertus,  utpote  qui  a  teneris  annis  usque  ad 
"  senium  elongatum  a  mundo  cor  suum  mundanis  rebus  non  accom- 
"  odaverat  sed  divinis,  prudenter  reflectens  suae  considerationis  intime 
"  oculum  ad  seipsum,  cogitavit  oneri  papatus  et  honori  cedere ;  ne  ob 
"  praedicta  posset  ex  regimine  suo  quodcumque  universali  Ecclesiae 

"  periculum   provenire;   et  ut vacare   posset   secus 

"  pedes  Jesu  contemplans  ocio  cum  Maria.  Ad  suos  ergo  cogitatus 
"  quendam  Cardinalem  nomine  Benedictum,  litterali  scientia  valde 
"redimitum  convocavit;  cui  tantum  secreta  sui  cordis  sub  sigillo 
"  poenitentiae  revelavit.  Cumque  respondisset  dictus  dominua 
"  Cardinalis  quod  libere  renunciare  posset,  dans  ei  exempla  aliorum 
"  pontificum  qui  renunciaverant,  ita  cor  ejus  in  hoc  confinnatum 
"  est,  quod  nunquam  ab  ipso  proposito  per  dictum  alicujus  amoveri 
"  potuisset.  Unde  cum  isto  Cardinali  omnia  praedicta  occulte  ac 
"  solicite  tractans  et  ordinans,  fecit  sibi  renuciationem  scribi  et 
"  doceri.  Qui  tandem  ad  talia  preparatus,  consistorium  ingrediebatur ; 
"  et  sedens  in  throno  pontificali  summum  silentium,  ne  sibi  con- 
"  tradicerent,  omnibus  imponebat.  Et  accepta  charta,  legem  statuit 
"  decretalem  ut  quilibet  papa  possit  papatui  libere  renunciare.  Hoc 
"  autem  ipse  prior  volebat  observare.  Deposito  namque  ornato 
"pontificali,  pronus  in  terra  sedens  cessit  papatus  oneri  et  honori. 
"  Videntes  autem  Cardinales  quae  numquam  antea  viderant,  in  fletum 
"  et  suspiria  singuli  prorumpebant.  Cujus  enim  vel  cor  arrogans  vel 
"  durum  istius  humilitas  ad  humilitatis  et  mansuetudinis  non  flectat 
"  exemplum  ?  Consideravit  namque  difficile  esse  sine  cordis  elatione 
"  aliis  praesse,  et  terrenas  occupationes  absque  peccati  fomite 
"  ministrare.  Haluit  autem  in  Domo  Domini  abjectus  esse,  quam 
"  in  diversoriis  hujus  saeculi  gloriosus  habitare.  Nee  poterat  ipsum 
"  totus  mundus  erigere  quern  se  ipse  dejecerat  solus.  Porro  sicut  ejus 
"  electio  ex  divina  providentia  noscitur  evenisse,  non  minus  credendum 
"est  de  illius  humillima  renunciatione. 


HIS  RETURN  TO  HIS  CELL  ON  MT.  MORRONE. 

CAP.  xvm. 

"  Hac  itaque  renunciatione  peracta,  Petrus  non  post  multos  dies 
"  ad  cellam  ejus,  ad  quam  ante  renunciationem  redire  protestatus 
"  fuerat,  regressus  est  occulte.  Statim  autem  ut  illam  ingressus  est, 
"  prostravit  se  coram  altari,  gratias  Deo  referens  eo  quod  ipsum 
"  taliter  reduxisset.  Qui  projectis  vestibus  delicatis,  induit  se 
"  vilioribus  illis  quibus  ante  papatum  vestitus  fuerat,  sperans  de 
"  cetero  illic  pacifice  remanere.  Quod  audientes  cives  Sulmontini 
"  occurrerunt  ei  omnes,  et  ilium  videntes,  nimio  repleti  sunt  gaudio ; 
"  gratias  Deo  referentes  eo  quod  ipsum  revidere  meruissent.  Et  ilium 
"  ad  cellam  perduxerunt. 


472  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


THE  SEARCH  AFTER  HIM. 
CAP.    XIX. 

"Bonifacius  qui  post  ipsum  ad  summum  pontificatum  provectus 
"  est,  cum  audisset  Petrum  ad  cellam  ejus  reversum,  statim 
"  Camerarium  suum  misit,  praecipiens  ei  ut  ubicumque  ilium  in- 
"  veniret,  licet  invitum,  ad  se  reduceret  abseque  mora."  Why  this 
command  of  Boniface  to  bring  back,  even  by  force,  St.  Peter 
Celestine?  We  have  already  given  the  reason,  founding  our  opinion 
on  the  testimony  of  contemporary  writers  and  of  eyewitnesses  who 
related  the  facts.  It  was  through  fear  of  a  schism,  possible  not  cer- 
tainly through  the  ambition  of  the  Saint,  for  he  had  none,  but 
through  the  admiratin  for  his  piety  and  the  renown  of  his  miracles : 
"  Cum  ergo  ille  abiens  appropinquaret  ad  cellam  Petri,  intimatum  est 
"  hoc  viro  Dei.  Qui  timens  abscondit  se  in  quadam  latebra  illius 
"  cellae,  ut  ab  ipso  minime  posset  inveniri."  There  are  but  two 
possible  hypotheses  of  the  causes  of  the  fear  which  induced  Celestine 
to  hide  himself.  It  arose  either  from  the  rumor  that  was  spread  of 
the  imprisonment  that  Boniface  had  in  store  for  him,  or  from  the 
opinion  that  the  unexpected  arrival  of  the  messenger  had  for  an  object 
to  make  him  reascend  the  Papal  throne.  As  for  the  imprisonment  he 
could  not  dread  it,  since  Boniface  decided  on  enclosing  him  in  the 
castle  of  Fumone  only  after  he  saw  that  it  was  dangerous  to  himself 
and  to  the  Church  to  keep  the  Saint  secluded  in  the  Papal  palace, 
which  fact  is  related  by  the  anonymous  writer.  The  Saint  then  hid 
himself  through  fear  of  losing,  by  his  new  elevation,  the  blessed 
solitude,  which  he  preferred  to  all  honors :  "  Cum  autem  dictus 
"  Camerarius  cellam  esset  ingressus,  et  nee  alibi  Petrum  invenisset, 
"  anxiatus  est  in  eo  spiritus  ejus  et  perturbatus,  quia  mandatum 
"  Domini  sui  ad  effectum  perducere  non  posset ;  et  furore  replatus 
"  quemdam  fratrem  simplicem  in  cella  Petri  repertum  secum 
"  abducens,  carceri  compeditum  mancipavit.  Qui  sic  in  carcerem  cum 
"  compedibus  retrusus  defunctus  est."  Boniface  is  not  responsible  for 
the  rage  of  the  Chamberlain,  nor  for  the  shameful  imprisonment  of 
the  innocent  monk.  The  best  princes  can  have  the  worst  executors 
of  their  orders,  and  when  a  moral  inability  prevents  them  from 
anticipating  and  stopping  the  wickedness  of  the  latter,  they  should 
not  be  held  accountable.  Boniface  had  ordered  the  Saint  to  be  con- 
ducted to  him  even  against  his  will;  his  apprehensions  render  this 
unquestionable;  but  all  that  was  done  beyond  this  was  the  work  of 
the  Chamberlain.  Is  it  rare  to  see  the  zeal  of  a  too  officious  agent 
overstep  its  bounds,  and  transform  itself  into  severity?  Moreover 
we  are  reluctant  to  believe  that  a  simple  imprisonment  was  of  a 
nature  as  to  cause  so  suddenly  the  death  of  the  monk  which  the 
author,  we  have  cited,  relates;  unless  the  Chamberlain  in  his  "fury 
of  the  wolf,"  (the  words  of  the  author)  had  added  blows  and  cruelties : 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  473 

"  0  magna  crudelitas !  In  sanctum  Patrem  lupus  desaevire  non 
u  valens,  desaevit  in  filios,  ut  hunc  fratrem  carcerando,  irae  suae 
"  furonem  de  beati  Patri  amissione  placeret.  Et  quid  forte  fecerat 
"  f rater  ille  ut  tali  poena  plecteretur  ?  Numquid  Sancti  Petri  amissio 
"  causa  f uit  ?  Verum  non  est  ambigendum  quod  poena  ilia  sine  causa 
"meritorum  irrogata  in  meritorum  augmentum  conversa  fuerit.  De 
"  Petro  autem  Celebris  inquisitio  f  acta  est  in  diversis  mundi  partibus.* 


HIS  PLIGHT  ACROSS  THE  SEA. 
CAP.   XX. 

"  Sanctus  igitur  iste  cum  per  spacium  duorum  mensium  in  ejus 
"  cella  latitasset,  fugam  iniit  de  nocte  uno  cum  socio  versus  quandam 
"  sylvam  in  partibus  Apuliae,  per  dies  quatuor  a  Murrone  distantem, 
"  ut  ibi  solitarius  ab  hominibus  ignotus  permaneret.  Sed  audi  mirum. 
"  Quanto  magis  per  viam  occultare  se  studuit,  eo  amplius  cunctis 
"  fiebat  plebibus  notus.  Retulit  namque  frater  ille  qui  cum  ipso 
"  ambulabat.  Dum  sero  quodam  hospitium  quererent  in  castello 
"  quodam,  pueri  in  vicis  et  plateis  solito  serotino  tempore  ludentes, 
"  viso  Petro,  portinus  exclamaverunt :  Ecce  frater  Petrus  de  Murrone. 
"  Tandem  ad  memoratam  sylvam  veniens  ingressus  est  cum  socio  in 
"  cellam  duorum  f ratum.  Qui  cum  in  eum  respicerent,  quern  nunquam 
"  antea  viderant,  optime  cognoverunt  dicentes :  Vere  tu  es  frater 
"  Petrus  de  Murrone ;  et  repleti  gaudio  glorificaverunt  Deum.  Erat 
"  autem  tune  temporis  Quadragesima  major.  Petrus  ergo  in  quadam 
"  cella  illius  nemoris  se  includens,  sanctum  Pascha  jejuniis  artis  et 
"  orationibus  assiduis  expectabat.  At  veniente  dominica  in  ramis 
"  Palmarum,  quidam  abbas  Monasterii,  quod  de  Corata  nuncupatur, 
"  Ordinis  S.  Benedict!,  ibat  cum  septem  sociis  per  sylvam  hue  atque 
"  illuc,  ipsum  quanto  devotius  tanto  velocius  inquirendo.  Videns  ergo 
"  tentabat.  Idcirco  fratrem  suum  quendam  ad  priorem  monasterii 
"  sanctus  ille  se  abscondi  minime  posse,  ad  partes  ultramarinas  pergere 
"sancti  Joannis  in  piano  praecipiendo  misit,  ut  hoc  factum  cum 
"naucleris,  mora  postposita,  clam  pertractaret.  Quod  et  factum  est. 

"  Parata  igitur  nave, pater  sanctus  ad  praefatum 

"  coenobium  ad  requisitionem  dominicam  venit.  Qui  cum  illic  spatio 
"  unius  mensis  moram  latenter  traxisset,  navigandi  congruum  tempus 
"  praestolando,  abiit  ad  mare  navigaturus.  Et  ecce  subito  maris 
"procella  valida  insurgente,  ac  si  aperte  mare  patefaceret  se  ilium 
"  recipere  nolle,  coactus  est  ibi  moram  trahere  sex  diebus.  Post  haec 
"flante  prospero  vento  navem  ascendit  Petrus  cum  sociis  ejus;  et 
"  data  nave  flatibus  navigare  coeperunt.  Et  iterum  tempestate  non 
"exigua  imminente,  vix  illo  die  miliaria  quindecim  facientes,  ejecti 
"  sunt  ad  littus  maris  non  multum  distans  a  civitate  quae  Vestia 
"  nuncupatur.  Qui  in  eodem  loco  novem  mensibus  manserunt, 
"  ventum  prosperum  expectantes.  Sic  revera  divinae  placuit  disposi- 


474  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"  tioni,  ut  patria  tarn  preciosum  talentum  sibi  creditum  non  amitteret, 
"  sed  potium  divinitus  inde  lucrum  multiplex  reportaret. 


HIS  CAPTURE  AND  CONFINEMENT  IN  THE  CASTLE  OF  FUMONE. 
CAP.   XXI. 

"  His  itaque  morarn  ibi  dacientibus,  intellexit  Captaneus  praedictas 
"  civitalis  per  quorundam  relationem,  virum  Dei  tali  adesse  loco ; 
"  abiens  cum  populi  comitiva  duxit  ilium  ad  civitatem  praedictam ;  et 
"tenuit,  donee  rem  gestam  Bonifacius,  cum  omni  dilatione  post- 
"posita,  missis  exercitibus,  fecit  praedictum  Dei  famulum  ad  se 
"Anagniam,  ubi  tune  moram  traxerat,  accersiri,  et  in  quodam 
"domicilio  juxta  ipsius  cameram  clam  includi.  Quantas  quippe 
"  miraculorum  virtutes  almis  ejus  meritis,  dum  per  viam  duceretur, 
"  ostenderit  Deus  in  conspectu  populi,  nequaqam  poterit  explicari 
"  sermonibus.  Saltern  tamen  aliqua  ipsorum  quae  Patriarcha 
"  Hierosolimitanus,  Prior  sanctae  Militiae  Dominus  Ludovicus,  et 
"Dominus  Stendardus,  ipsum  deducentes  oculata  fide  vederant  et 
"scribi  fecerant,  in  tertia  hujus  libelli  particula  declarabo.  Multi 
"  autem  tarn  de  Cardinalibus  quam  de  aliis  in  Curia  existentibus 
"  ipsum  videre  desiderabant ;  sed  prohibente  Bonifacio,  ad  ilium 
"  ingredi  non  valebant.  Tanta  namque  plebis  devotio  in  eum  dictitur 
"  viguisse,  ut  ipso  vivente,  Bonifacius  verus  pastor  Ecclesiae  a  multis 
"minime  crederetur  esse.  Dum  per  viam  duceretur  ad  Papam, 
"  sequebatur  eum  multitude  gentium  clamans  et  suadens  ut  omnino 
"  sibi  resumeret  Pontificatum.  Quibus  ille  constanti  respondit  animo : 
"  Absit  hoc  a  me,  ut  talem  in  Ecclesia  Dei  f  aciam  dissensionnem :  non 
"  enim  renui  causa  resumendi  papatus  honorem ;  sed  illam  quam  tune 
"  habui,  eamdem  nunc,  si  faciendum  esset,  habeo  voluntatem."  If 
we  look  back  to  the  end  of  XIII  century,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us 
not  to  understand  what  great  danger  would  be  to  the  Church  not  only 
that  a  multitude  of  people  clamoring  and  advising  Celestine  to  resume 
the  Pontificate  "  Multitude  gentium  clamans  and  suadens  ut  omnino 
"  sibi  resumeret  Pontificatum,"  but  also  many  of  the  Cardinals,  and 
members  of  the  Curia :  "  multi  de  Cardinalibus  et  de  aliis  in  curia, 
"  existentibus."  There  was  not  question  of  suspicions,  or  jealousies  of 
state,  but  rather  of  clear  and  most  dangerous  facts,  which  Boniface 
had  to  provide  against,  if  he  did  not  want  to  see  the  Church  disturbed 
and  torn  by  schism.  Boniface  confined  the  Saint  in  an  apartment 
close  to  his  own  in  order  to  save  him  from  the  indiscreet  and  dangerous 
devotion  of  the  people.  But  as  a  great  number  of  the  cardinals  and 
members  of  the  Papal  court  would  not  refrain  from  approaching  the 
Saint  to  urge  him  to  resume  the  Pontificate,  and  as  the  devotion  of 
the  people  went  so  far  as  to  declare  and  publish  that  Boniface  was 
not  the  legitimate  pastor,  he  was  obliged  to  put  Celestine  in  more 
strict  confinement,  and  he  shut  him  up  in  the  castle  of  Fumone. 
Aware  of  his  own  unfitness,  convinced  of  the  validity  of  his  resigna- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  475 

tion,  and  as  a  consequence  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  pontificate  of 
Boniface,  the  Saint  repudiated  the  scandalous  exhortations  of  his 
partisans,  not  only  because  they  offended  his  modesty,  but  also  because 
they  were  wicked.  He  submitted  with  pleasure,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
the  Pope,  who  wished  to  keep  him  in  the  castle  of  Fumone.  "  Post- 
"  quam  autem  praefatus  Bonifaciis  Papa  ipsum  fere  duobus  mensibus 
"  apud  se  tenuisset,  fecit  eum  ad  castrum  Fumonis  nocte  transportari ; 
"  et  in  turri  ejus  taliter  includi,  ut  nullus  omnino,  praeter  custodes  ad 
"lioc  positos,  cum  viro  Dei  loqui  potuisset,  aut  etiam  ilium  intueria. 
"  Petrus  itaque  sic  inclusus  gratias  egit  Deo  dicens :  Christe  noscens 
"  occulta  cordium,  mei  nosti  tu  desiderium.  Pro  te  pati  set  mihi 
"gaudium,  mori  lucrum;  haec  vita  taedium.  Ex  ejus  quippe  fratribus 
"  duo  ad  ipsius  petitionem  dabantur  ei  quorum  adjutorio  dicere 
"  possit  officium  Dei.  Sed  fratres  illi  arctationem  turris  et  careris 
"  sufferre  non  valentes  infirmabantur  saepixis,  et  extractis  illis,  alii  in 
"  eorum  cambium  sani  debantur.  Tanta  enim  erat  illius  turris 
arctatio  quod  ubi  pedes  ipse  tenebat  dum  missam  diceret,  ibi  cervicem 
"  captis  reclinabat  dum  dormiret."  And  why  this  so  narrow  prison  ? 
Was  the  tower  so  small  that  it  could  hold  only  one  man  ?  Certainly 
not,  because  there  was  room  in  it  for  the  guards  and  two  brothers : 

"  custodes  positos,  fratibus duo."    We  must  then  say 

that  either  Boniface  locked  the  Saint  in  a  corner  of  the  castle  to 
smother  him,  or  that  the  Saint  himself  with  his  own  free  will  chose 
this  narrow  space  through  love  of  penance.  If  Boniface  wanted  to 
suffocate  Celestine,  he  would  have  employed  more  expeditious  means, 
which  the  gloom  of  the  fortress  would  conceal ;  moreover,  the  very  ad- 
vanced years  of  Celestine,  his  greatly  emaciated  body,  would  suffice  to 
allay  suspicion,  in  explaining  his  death.  If  then  we  may  be  obliged  to 
admit  these  details  of  the  biography  of  the  saint,  we  should  reasonably 
believe  that  he  who  sighed  ardently  for  the  dark  grotto  and  the 
mortified  life  of  Mt.  Morrone,  had  chosen  this  narrow  abode.  The 
above  mentioned  passage  of  Stephaneschi  clearly  proves  this :  "  Ubi 
"  assuetam,  sicut  prius,  vitam  agens  eremiticam,  nolens  laxiribus, 
"  quibus  poterat  uti."  Now  if  the  Saint  wanted  to  fast,  to  sleep  on 
the  ground,  to  scourge  himself,  could  Boniface  be  blamed  for  that? 
Our  anonymous  monk  finds  us  equally  a  little  incredulous  with  regard 
to  that  strange  succession  of  religious,  his  confreres,  who  assisted  the 
Saint  in  the  horrible  fortress,  and  who  were  obliged  to  leave  half 
dead  from  time  to  time,  on  account  of  the  intolerable  life  they  were 
forced  to  lead.  What?  young  and  full  of  life  when  they  entered,  and 
in  a  dying  condition  on  leaving.  And  the  holy  old  man  of  seventy- 
five  years,  worn  out  by  austerities,  principal  object  of  the  anger  of 
Boniface,  remained  a  healthy  witness  of  these  successive  replace- 
ments of  young  and  vigorous  men?  No,  it  is  incredible.  u  Yerum 
"  quia  fratribus  erat  nimin  difficile  sic  manere,  semper  illos  admonens 
"  confortabatur  ut  patienter  sufferrent  Jesu  Christ!  pro  amore, 
*  Et  sic " 


476  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


HIS  DEATH  AND  MIRACLES  THEREAT. 
CAP.   XXII. 

"  Opportunum  tempus  advenit  in  quo  sudores  et  labores  ejus 
"  reponerentur  in  requie  coelesti ;  et  quotidian!  agones  illius,  quod 
"  in  palestra  monochatus  mitis  belligerator  exegerat,  dignis  debebant 
"  a  Domino  compensationibus  praemiari.  Missa  namque  per  ipsum 
"  devotissima  celebrata  in  die  Dominica  Sanctae  Pentecostes, 
"  coeperunt  membra  ejus  debilia  languore  ingravescere :  Et  praelibans 
"  animo  menteque  degustans  dulcedinem  spiritualium  gaudiorum, 
"  mortis  futurae  praescius  sibi  faciebat  extremam  unctionem  con- 
"  ferri.  In  dextro  siquidem  latere  ipsius  quodam  apostema 
"  pullulaverat,  quod  ipsum  graviter  affligere  non  cessabat."  It  is  seen 
that  St.  Peter  Celestine  died  from  an  abscess,  not  from  hunger,  nor 
blows,  nor  suffocation.  Now  where  is  the  famous  nail  by  which  he 
was  killed?  This  ferocious  Boniface,  was  he  obliged  to  make  use  of 
this  singular  means  of  assassinating  a  man,  because  poison,  a  rope  and 
other  means  were  not  at  hand?  The  above  mentioned  writers,  even 
Peter  d'Ailly  himself,  say  nothing  of  a  nail.  The  Colonnas  and 
Philip  the  Fair  are  silent  on  this  point.  Who  then  had  found  it? 
Perhaps  the  hole  that  was  seen  in  the  withered  head  of  the  Saint, 
and  the  impression  of  the  cruel  character  of  Boniface,  well  capable 
of  such  cruelty,  gave  color  to  the  suppositions :  "  Aspirabat  ad  aeterna 
"  solatia  qui  temporalium  fuerat  contemptor.  Infirmus  jacebat  in  sola 
"  tabula  qui  mundanas  oderat  honores :  et  ad  messem  perennis  gaudii 
"  capiendam  sanctus  ille  medullitus  aestuabat.  Per  totam  autem  illam 
"  hebdomadam  usque  ad  sabbatum  ab  oratione  ferenti  spiritum  non 
"  relaxabat.  Trahabatur  ad  odorem  coelestium  unguentorum ;  et 
"  quantum  poterat  armis  coelestibus  muniebat  finem  suum.  Succensa 
"  quippe  fuerant  ejus  praecordia  Jesu  Christi  dulcedine  pariter  et 
"  amore  et  capiens  jam  dissolvi  et  esse  cum  eo,  ad  sabbatum,  in  quo 
"  ab  omni  labore  quiesceret,  plenis  desideriis  ferebatur.  Die  ergo 
"  sabbati  hora  vespertina,  aegritudine  corporis  invalescente,  inter 
"  verba  orationis,  ejus  anima  de  merore  ad  gaudium,  de  labore  ad 
"  requiem  meruit  transire  sempiternan " 

DOCUMENT  (K). 

LETTER    OF    BONIFACE    TO    THE   SICILIANS,    URGING    THEM    TO    RETURN    TO 
SUBMISSION   TO   THE    CHURCH. 

Bonifacius,  etc.,  universis  hominibus  Panormi,  aliisque  per  insulam 
Siciliae  constitutis,  spiritum  consilii  sanioris. 

Inter  caetera  tractatus  ab  Aragonum  rege  completa  juxta  ipsius 
tractatus  seriem  insulam  Siciliae,  quae  Romanae  Ecclesiae  juris  et 
proprietatis  existit,  cum  omnibus  juribus  et  pertinentis  suis  praefatus 
Rex  per  suas  patentes  literas  nobis  et  Ecclesiae  praefatae  restituit,  et 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  477 

ad  cautelam  nostram  et  ejusdem  Ecclesiae  cira  hoc  se  nobis  fortius  et 
firmius  obligavit.  Et  cum  fuerit  in  ipso  tractatu,  et  sit  cordi  nostro 
cura  praecipua  de  reparations  status  vestri,  et  securitate  plenaria, 
more  consulti  Patrisfamilias,  et  superioris  domini,  ad  quern  spectat 
praecipue  de  vobis,  sicut  de  subjectis  Ecclesiae,  providere  ex  nostrae 
praeeminentia  potestatis,  quam  habemus  sicut  superior,  obsolefacta 
corrigere,  et  liberare  confractos  ab  angustiis,  ut  quiescant,  nee  minus 
ex  posse  nobis  ab  eodem  Rege  Siciliae  tradito;  disposuimus  firmiter 
librato  judicio  tenere  vos  in  manibus  nostris,  et  ejusdem  Ecclesiae,  et 
vestro  statui  animarum,  et  corporum  securitati,  et  tranquillitati 
pacifice,  efficaciter,  et  utiliter  providere. 

Verum  cum  populus  de  facili  corruat,  ubi  deficit  gubernator, 
pro  vestra  gubernatione  utili  et  humano  regimine  Cardinalem  unum 
vobis  gratum  et  placitum  ad  dictam  insulam,  annuente  divina  pro- 
videntia,  disponimus  destinare :  propter  quod  quis  de  fratribus  nostris 
per  hoc  sit  vobis  acceptus,  nobis  describite:  curabimus  enim  de  ipso 
vestris  effectibus  complacere.  Et  procul  dubio  redeuntibus  vobis  ad 
devotionem  sanctae  matris  Ecclesiae  sic  in  vos,  qui  longe  demerit! 
fuistis  ab  olim,  ubera  maternae  dilectionis  effundet,  ac  si  prope  gratae 
devotionis  impendiis  fuissetis;  peccatorum  enim  laudanda  conversio 
in  coelis  etiam  justification  justorum  gratius  et  jucundius  acceptatur, 
etc.  Dat  Romae  apud  S.  Petrum  IV  non.  januarii  anno  1. 

ANOTHER    LETTER    TO    FREDERICK    OP    ARAGON    TO    PREVAIL    UPON    HIM    TO 

LEAVE  SICILY. 

Friderico  nato  quondam  Petri  olim  Regis  Aragonum  spiritum  con- 
cilii  sanioris. 

De  sinu  patris  in  te  spargenda  semina  prodeunt,  fructum  ger- 
minatura  multiplicem  commodi,  honoris  et  gloriae,  si  devotus  ilia 
susceperis,  et  ad  susceptionem  ipsorum  velut  agrum  purgatum  spinis 
et  tribulis  paraveris  mentem  tuam.  Nosti  quidem,  ut  credimus,  et 
latendi  locum  non  invenit  tantae  veritatis  essentia,  quod  post 
apostolatiis  apicem  assumptum  a  nobis,  licet  immeritis,  inter  caeteros 
nostri  cordis  aflectus,  fuit  ille  profundus,  et  fervens,  quod  clarissimum 
in  Christo  filium  nostrum  Jacobum  Aragonum  regem  illustrem 
germanum  tuum,  tune  in  devio  positum,  et  te  in  umbra  mortis  sedentes 
et  tenebris,  nostra  provisio  revocaret  a  lapsu,  et  paterna  charitas  cum 
praesidio  favoris  et  gratiae  ad  sanctse  matris  Ecclesiae,  unde  immensus 
error  vos  traxerat,  reduceret  unitatem. 

Et  ut  hujusmodi  noster  affectus  votivum  consequeretur  effectum, 
inonitis  exhortationibusque  paternis  te  ad  praesentiam  nostram  per- 
duximus,  mutuoque  tractavimus,  ut  charissima  in  Christo  filia  nostra 
Catharina  Imperatrix  Constantinopolitana  cum  certis  subsidiis 
faciendis  per  nos,  tibi  matrimonialiter  jungeretur,  ad  Imperatricem 
ipsam  venerabilem  fratrem  nostrum  G.  Aniciensem  Episcopum,  et 
dilectum  filium  religiosum  virum  1.  abbatem  S.  German!  de  Pratis, 
speciales  nuncios  nostros,  destinare  curantes,  inducturos  eamdem  ad 
complementum  matrimonii  memorati.  Qua?  per  eos  proximo  redeuntes 


478  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

ad  nos  super  hoc  responsum  nobis  exhibuit,  quod  cum  tu  terrain  non 
habeas,  et  ipsa  patrimonii  sui  sit  possessione  privata,  incongruum  sibi 
videretur  et  indecens,  quod  tantae  nobilitatis  homines  carerent 
domicilio  proprio  et  opportunis  aliis,  qualitate  habita  personarum: 
sed  si  fieret  tibi  in  terra  provisio,  unde  tu  et  ipsa  saltern  usque  ad 
recuperationem  terrae  suse  convenientem  vitam  possetis  habere,  circa 
perfectionem  prsefati  tractatus  libenter  se  nostris  inductionibus  et 
beneplacitis  coaptaret.  Nos  vero  nostrum  salubre  propositum  pro- 
sequentes,  et  quod  cceptum  est  jam  forti  et  fundato  principio,  finem 
prosperum  et  Deo  placitum  cupientes  habere,  cum  ipsius  pacis 
Auctore,  cujus  vices  portamus  in  terris,  perfecta  sint  opera  Ecclesiae, 
ac  nobis  onus  adjicimus  ut  cum  effectu  perfecti  operis  te  ad  gregem 
dominicum  revocemus;  sicque  ortum  ex  bello  Siculo  rancorem  et 
scandalum  in  omnibus  suis  partibus  succidamus  ex  toto,  quod  ex 
eorum  reliquiis  nullum  supersit  residuum,  et  laeta  pax  et  tranquillitas 
in  locum  adveniat  odiorum.  Ecce  quidem  ad  dictam  Imperatricem 
certos,  et  speciales  nuncios  nostros  instanter  transmittimus,  ut  cum 
praefati  sui  voti  concordia  per  omnes,  quos  possumus,  tramites  ejus 
affectum  expeditum  et  liberum  perfection!  dicti  matrimonii  coaptemus. 
Considera  igitur,  fili,  considera  paternse  pietatis  affectum,  et 
proventurum  tibi  ex  ipsius  monitione  profectum,  et  paternis  profecto 
monitis  acquiescens.  Non  enim  patris  charitas  continere  se  potest 
quin  prsecipitem  filium,  sicut  fama,  immo  infamia  volitat,  a  manifesta 
ruina  retrahat,  in  qua,  ut  dicitur,  post  cessionem  et  abdicationem 
occupations  et  detentionis  illicitse  prsedicti  germani  tuni,  lauda- 
bilite  ad  gremium  redeuntis  Ecclesise,  assumendo  falsum  titulum 
occupationis,  in  juste,  rationis  metas  exiliens,  prosilire  proponis,  et  a 
Creatoris  tui  gratia,  graviter  ipsum  offendendo,  decidens  prseceps 
cadis.  Cohibe  igitur  motus  tuos,  expecta  patris  salubre  consilium,  et 
obventurum-ex  eo  tibi  prse  foribus  fructuosaa  ac  honorificse  reparationis 
effectum:  nee  ulla  te  maligna  suggestio  retrahat,  vel  avertat  astutia, 
quin  nostris  monitis  aures  intentas  adhibeas,  et  realiter  filialis  ac- 
comodes  promptitudinis  intellectum.  Proculdubio  quidem,  si  semina 
nostra  sicut  verus  cultor  exceperis,  fructus  tibi  uberes  grata  pros- 
peritatis  adducent.  Sed  si  ut  adversus  negligendo  saltern  suscipere 
ilia  contempseris,  sieut  errantem  et  perditum  expositum  te  videmus 
periculis,  ut  in  te  tanquam  prseteritarum  culparum  excessum  suc- 
cessorem  vibrans  gladium  ultionis  divina  sententia  spiritualibus 
et  temporalibus  jaculis  tarditatem  poense  compenset  judicii  gravitate. 
Et  ecce  quod  venerabilem  fratrem  nostrum  G.  episcopum  TJrgellensem 
et  dilectum  filium  religiosum  virum  fratrem  Bonifacium  de  Cala- 
mandrana  generalem  prseceptorem  sancti  Joannis  Jerosolymitani  in 
partibus  cismarinis  ad  te  propter  ea  providimus  destinandos,  quos 
prsemissis  devotio  tua  humane  recipiat,  patienter  audiat,  et  relata  per 
ipsos  ad  terminos  votivae  executionis  adducat.  Dat.  Komse  apud  S. 
Petrum  IV.  non.  Januarii  anno  1. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  479 


DOCUMENT  (L). 

LETTER    OF    BONIFACE    TO    THE    PROVINCIAL    OF    THE    FRIARS    MINOR    WITH 
REGARD  TO  THE  CONVERSION  OF  GUY  OF  MONTEFELTRO. 

Dilecto  filio  fratri  N.  Ordinis  Minorum  Provincial  Marchice  anco- 
nitance  ministro. 

Filius  nobilis  vir  Guido  Comos  Montis-Feltri  itam  per  seipsum, 
quam  per  fide  dignas  personas,  aperiens  votum  suum  nobis  pluries 
intimare  curavit,  quod  ipse  reversus  ad  cor,  desiderat  et  proponit  pro 
diluendis  peccatis  suis,  quibus  Deum,  et  Komanam  Ecclesiam  matrem 
suam  offendit,  sub  Religionis  habitu  finire  in  Dei  servitio  dies  suos, 
maxime  cum  conjugis  suae  prout  dicitur,  volentis  votume  emittere  per- 
petuae  castitatis,  ad  hoc  accedate  assensus.  Nos  itaque  devotionem 
suam,  quae  prudenter  spiritum  consilii  velle  videtur  admittere,  in 
Domino  commendantes,  ut  votum  suum  hujusmodi  libentius  prose- 
quatur,  volumus  ut  de  bonis  mobilibus  quae  nunc  habet,  suam  possit 
remunerare  familiam,  et  de  immobilibus  conjugis  suae  tantum  supra 
sortem  suarum  dotium  assignare,  quod  centum  libras  Ravennatum, 
quod  vixerit,  habeat  annuatim;  prius  inter  ipsum  et  eamdem  conjugem, 
ut  moris  est,  ea  solemnitate  qua  decet,  post  votum  castitatis  emissum, 
divortio  celebrate,  praedicta  vero  mobilia  quae  remuneration!  familiae 
suae  supererunt  in  quacumque  materia,  vel  forma,  in  aliquo  loco  secure, 
et  apud  fideles  personas  interim  deponi  volumus,  et  servari ;  donee  tarn 
de  mobilibus,  quam  de  immobilibus,  quae  in  praesentiarum  possidet, 
aliud  duxerimus  ordinandum.  Volumus  etiam,  praefatam  conjugen 
suam  propter  annosa  insuspicabilis  aetatis  seae  tempora,  posse  in  statu, 
in  quo  nunc  est,  si  ad  Religionem  induci  non  valeat,  licite  pennanere. 
Quocirca  discretioni  tuae  praesentium  tenore  committimus  et  manda- 
mus, quatenus  ad  eumdem  nobilem  te  personaliter,  si  in  hujusmodi 
proposito,  sicut  credimus,  perseverans  religionem  velit  intrare,  recipias 
et  facias  in  manibus,  et  per  manus  tuas  omnia,  quae  circa  emissionem 
votorum,  et  celebrationem  divortii  praedictorum  conjugum,  recep- 
tionem  ipsius  Guidonis  ad  Religionem,  praedictorum  dispositionem, 
ipsorum  mobilium  requirentur,  et  alia  quae  circa  id  videris  facienda, 
nobis  per  tuas  litteras  rescripturus,  quod  factum  et  ordinatum  fuerit 
in  praemissis.  Caeterum  licet  sibi  nostra  praesentia  constitute  dixeri- 
mus,  quod  sive  in  Fratrum  Militantium  sive  in  Minorum  Ordinem 
vellet  intrare,  opportunam  sibi  viam  et  auxilium  praeberemus,  et  in 
utroque  ipsorum  salutarem  et  devotum  Domino  posse  impendere 
famulatum;  de  Minorum  tamen  sibi  potius,  quam  Militantium 
Ordinum  per  te  nolumus  suaderi  quidquam;  quia,  quamvis  Minorum 
Regula  dignoscatur  asperior,  personarum  tamen  conditioni,  qualitati 
mentis  et  aetati,  plenius  melius  in  omnibus  et  per  omnia  iritegra 
libertas  condescendit,  Datum  Anagniae  X.  Kal.  Augusti,  Pontificatus 
anno  11. 


480  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

DOCUMENT  (M). 

CONSTITUTION    ON    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    IMMUNITIES. 

Clericis  Laicos  infestos  oppido  tradit  antiquitas,  quod  et  prsesentiurn 
experimenta  temporum  manifesto  declarant,  dum  suis  finibus  non 
content!  nituntur  in  vetiturn,  ad  illicita  frena  relaxant,  nee  prudenter 
attendant,  quam  sit  eis  in  Clericos  Ecclesiasticasve  personas  et  bona, 
interdicta  potestas:  Ecclesiarum  Pr^latis,  Ecclesiis,  Ecclesiasticisque 
personis  Regularibus  et  Secularibus  imponunt  onera  gravia,  ipsosque 
talliant,  et  eis  collectas  imponunt,  ab  ipsis  suorum  proventuum  vel 
bonorum  dimidiam,  decimam,  seu  vicesimam,  vel  quamvis  aliam  por- 
Ttionem  aut  quotam  exigunt  et  extorquent,  eosque  moliuntur  multif  arie 
subjicere  servituti,  suseque  submittere  ditioni :  et  (quod  dolenter 
referimus)  nonnulli  Ecclesiarum  Praelati,  Ecclesiasticsequa?  persons 
trepidantes  ubi  trepidandum  non  est,  transitoriam  pacem  quaerentes, 
plus  timentes  Majestatem  temporalem  offendere,  quam  seternam, 
talium  abusibus  non  tarn  temerarie,  quam  improvide  acquiescunt, 
Sedis  Apostolicse  auctoritate  seu  licentia  non  obtenta. 

Nos  igitur  talibus  iniquis  actibus  obviare  volentes,  de  Fratrum 
nostrorum  consilio,  Apostolica  auctoritate  statuimus,  quod  quicumque 
Prselati,  Ecclesiasticseque  persons,  Eeligiosae  vel  Seculares,  quorum- 
cunque  Ordinum,  conditionis  seu  status,  collectas  vel  tallias,  decimam, 
vicesimam,  seu  centesimam  suorum  et  Ecclesiarum  proventuum  vel 
bonorum  Laicis  solverint  vel  promiserint,  vel  se  soluturos  consenserint, 
aut  quamvis  aliam  quantitatem,  portionem  aut  quotam  ipsorum  pro- 
ventuum vel  bonorum  sestimationis  vel  valoris  ipsorum  sub  adjutorii, 
mutui,  subventionis,  subsidii  vel  doni  nomine,  seu  quovis  alio  titulo, 
modo,  vel  qusesito  colore,  absque  auctoritate  Sedis  ejusdem:  necnon 
Imperatores,  Reges,  seu  Principes,  Duces,  Comites,  vel  Barones, 
Potestates,  Capitanei,  vel  Rectores,  quocunque  nomine  censeantur, 
civitatum,  castrorum,  seu  quorumcunque  locorum  constitutorum 
ubilibet:  et  quivis  alii,  cujuscunque  praeeminentiae,  conditionis  et 
status,  qui  talia  imposuerunt,  exegerint,  vel  receperint,  aut  apud  aedes 
sacras  depositas  Ecclesiarum,  vel  ecclesiasticarum  personarum 
ubilibet,  arrestaverint,  saisiverint,  seu  occupare  praesumpserint,  vel 
arrestari,  saisiri  aut  occupari  mandaverint;  aut  occupata  saisita  seu 
arrestata  receperint;  nee  non  omnes  qui  scienter  dederint  in  prasdictis 
auxilium,  consilium,  vel  favorem  publice  vel  occulte,  eo  ipso  sentent- 
iam  excommunicationis  incurrant.  Universitates  quoque  quse  in  his 
culpabiles  fuerint,  Ecclesiastico  supponimus  interdicto:  Pralatis  et 
personis  Ecclesiasticis  supra  dictis,  in  virtute  obedientia3,  et  sub  de- 
positionis  poena,  districte  mandantes,  ut  talibus  absque  expressa 
licentia  dicte  Sedis  nullatenus  acquiescant:  quodque  prsetextu 
cujuscunque  obligationis  permissionis,  et  confessionis  factarum 
hactenus,  vel  faciendarum  in  antea,  priusquam  hujusmodi  constitutio; 
prohibitio,  seu  prseceptum  ad  notitiam  ipsorum  pervenerit;  nihil  sol- 
vant,  nee  supradicti  Seculares  quoquo  modo  recipiant.  Et  sis  ol- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  481 

verint,  vel  'praedicti  receperint,  in  excommunicationis  sententiam 
incidant  ipso  facto.  A  supradictis  autem  excommunicationum  et 
interdict!  sententiis  nullus  absolvi  valeat,  praeterquam  in  mortis 
articulo,  absque  Sedis  Apostolicae  auctoritate  et  licentia  speciali; 
cum  nostra3  intentionis  existat  tam  orrendum  Secularium  potes- 
tatum  abusum  nullatenus  sub  dissimulatione  transire. 

Non  obstantibus  quibuscunque  tenoribus,  formis,  seu  modis,  aut 
verborum  conceptione  concessis  Imperatoribus,  Regibus,  et  aliis 
supradictis,  qua?  contra  prsemissa  in  nullo  volumus  alicui  vel  aliquibus 
suffragan. 


DOCUMENT  (N). 

LETTER  OF  BONIFACE  TO  PHILLIP  THE  FAIR. 

Regi  Francorum  Illustri 

Ineffabilis  amoris  dulcedine  sponso  suo,  qui  Christus  est,  Sancta 
Mater  Ecclesia  copulata,  dotes  et  gratias  ab  ipso  suscepit  amplissimas, 
ubertate  faecundas,  et  specialiter  inter  eas  benificium  libertatis.  Voluit 
enim  peramabilem  sponsam  ejus  libere  fidelibus  populis  praeesse 
dominio,  ut  velut  in  filios  haberet  more  matris  in  singulos  potestatem, 
ac  earn  cuncti  cum  filiali  reverentia  tamquam  universalem  matrem 
et  dominam  honorarent.  Quis  itaque  ilam  offendere  vel  provocare 
injuriis  non  pavescet?  Quis  ausum  credulitatis  assumet,  sponsum  in 
sponsae  contumelia  non  offendi  ?  Quis  Ecclesiastical  libertatis  infractor 
contra  Deum  et  Dominum  cujusvis  defensionis  clypeo  protegetur,  ut 
supernae  virtutis  malleo  comminui,  et  redigi  nequeat  in  pulverem  et 
favillam?  Non  avertas,  o  fili,  a  voce  patris  auditum,  quoniam  ad 
te  paternus  sermo  de  dulcedine  pectoris  cum  amaricatione  dirigitur, 
quam  audita  novi  casus  emersio  introduxit.  Tua  enim  interesse  con- 
spicimus,  attenta  mente  suscipere  quae  scribuntur.  Ad  nostrum 
siquidem  nuper,  non  sine  grandi  admiratione  quinimo  turbatione, 
pervenit  auditum,  quod  tu  consilio  deceptibili  ductus,  ut  credimus,  et 
maligno,  et  constitutionem  talem  iis  diebus,  ut  asseritur,  edidisti, 
cujus  et  si  patenter  verba  non  exprimant,  suadentium  tamen  earn 
fieri  (utinam  non  edentis  fuisse  videtur  intentio)  impingere  in  Eccle- 
siasticam  libertatem,  ipsamque  in  regno  tuo,  ubi  vigere  solet  ab  olim 
quoad  Ecclesias  et  Ecclesiasticarum  personarum  bona  (ut  de  nobis  et 
fratribus  nostris  sub  silentio  taceamus  ad  praesens)  voluisse  subvertere, 
non  sine  gravi  tua  nota,  magnoque  discrimine,  ac  tuorum  gravamine 
subjectorum,  et  aliorum  etiam  qui  solent  in  regno  praedicto  hactenus 
conversari. 

Cum  igitur  intersit  veri  patris  consilium  pro  filiis  capere,  bonique 
pastoris  errantes  oves  a  devio  revocare,  diligentis  amici  suadere 
salubria,  et  in  summo  militantis  Ecclesiae  justitiae  solio  praesidentis, 
non  solum  omne  malum,  sed  et  mali  speciem  in  subditis  dissipare;  nos 
qui  Pastoris  pastorum,  et  Jesu  Christi  Filii  summi  Patris  seterni, 


482  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

licet  immeriti,  ejus  favente  dementia,  gerimus  vices  in  terris,  et  in 
excelso  solio,  summi  apostolatus  videlicet,  praesidemus ;  teque  prsecipua 
sinceritate  prosequimur  et  prosecuti  sumus  ab  olim,  dum  nos  minor 
status  haberet;  horum  circa  te  officia  pio  affectu,  et  efficaci  studio 
providimus  exequenda,  pro  te  filio  prsedilecto  salubre  capiendo  con- 
silium,  teque  ab  invio  revocando,  in  quod  consilii  te  deviasse  creditur 
impulsio  fraudolentis,  ac  dissipando  omne  malum  et  mali  speciem, 
quod  consulentium  malignorum  temerarius  ausus  induxit;  prsesertim 
si  ad  hoc  constitutionis  prsemissae  referatur  intentio,  ad  quod  lata 
creditur,  secundum  eorum  intentum,  qui  earn  fieri  dolose  ac  improvide 
suaserunt. 

Non  debuit,  filii,  anima  tanti  Regis  in  tale  venire  consilium, 
non  decuit  excellentiae  tuae  prudentiam  abire  in  consilio  talium 
impiorum,  qui  ut  flagitant,  et  te  ut  demergaris  impingunt:  sed 
saltern  postquam  super  hoc  tuos  oculos  paterno  lumine  aperimus, 
stare  non  debes  in  via  talium  peccatorum;  sed  attentius  praecavere  te 
convenit,  ne  impulsu  pravorum  actuum  tui  solii  cathedra  pestilentise 
dici  possit.  Nee  licuit,  nee  etiam  expedivit,  quod  ad  tuam  considera- 
tionem  pateret  ingressus,  tua  et  dicti  regni  moderni  temporis  qualitate 
pensata,  tarn  insolita?  quam  indebitse  novitati,  per  quam  de  regno  non 
oriundis  eodem  conversandi  in  ipso,  mercimonia  licita,  et  actus  non 
prohibitos  cum  libertate  solita  exercendi  via  praecluditur,  et  aditus 
denegatur  in  multorum  et  etiam  subditorum  tuorum  non  leve  dis- 
pendium  et  gravamen. 

Ipsi  quidem  subditi  adeo  sunt  diversis  oneribus  aggravati,  quod 
eorum  ad  te  solita  subjectio  multum  putatur  refriguisse  devotio;  et 
quanto  amplius  aggravantur,  tanto  potius  in  posterum  refrigescet: 
nee  parum  amisisse  censetur,  qui  corda  perdit  subjectorum.  Habet 
interdum  usus  ssecularium  principum,  vel  abusus,  hostibus  de  suis 
terris  subtrahere  commoda,  et  ut  ad  inimicorum  terras  subject!  non 
transeant,  nee  suarum  terrarum  bona  portentur  ad  illos;  sed  sic  gen- 
eralem  proferre  sententiam,  ut  tulisti,  non  solum  reprobatur  in 
subditos,  sed  etiam  in  exteros  cujuslibet  nationis.  Non  videtur  oculatse 
fuisse  prudentiae,  qui  praeteritorum  non  meminit,  praesentia  non  re- 
spicit,  nee  habet  ad  futura  respectum:  et  si,  quod  absit,  fuerit  con- 
dentis  intentio,  ut  ad  nos  et  fratres  nostros,  ecclesiarum  praelatos 
ecclesiasticasve  personas,  et  ipsas  ecclesias,  ac  nostra  et  ipsorum  bona 
non  solum  in  regno  tuo,  sed  constitutorum  ubilibet  extendatur,  hoc 
non  solum  fuisset  improvidum,  sed  insanum,  velle  ad  ilia  temerarias 
manus  extendere  in  quibus  tibi  ssecularibusque  principibus  nulla  est 
attributa  potestas;  quin  potius  ex  hoc,  contra  libertatem  eamdem 
temere  veniendo,  in  excommunicationis  sententian  promulgati  canonis 
incidisses. 

Vide,  fili,  ad  quod  praamissi  tui  consiliarii  te  duxerint,  ut  sacra- 
mentorum  ecclesiasticorum  percepitione  ac  participatione  privatus 
ad  tarn  periculosi  status  ignominiam  devenires.  Vitavit  hoc  pro- 
genitorum  tuorum  sancta  devotio  ad  ecclesiastica  sacramenta,  et 
promptitude  reverentise  ad  Apostolicam  sedem,  et  a  te  his  temporibus 
maxime  vitanda  fuissent  dum  circa  tua,  et  ipsius  regni  tui  honores  et 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  483 

commoda  procuranda,  et  evitanda  dispendia  sic  attente,  sic  laboriose, 
sic  sollicite  vigilamus:  ad  quod  enim  venerabiles  fratres  nostros 
Bernardum  Albanensem  et  Simonem  Praenestinum  Episcopos,  nobilia 
utique  Romanae  membra  ecclesiae,  ad  te  ac  tuum  ac  Angliae  regem  et 
regna  transmisimus :  ad  quod  etiam  Senensem,  et  Papiensem 
episcopos,  ac  bonae  memoriae  Regin.  Archiepisco  pum  ad  Alemanniae 
regem  duximus  destinandos;  multiplicatis  nihilominus  aliis  nuntiis, 
ad  diversas  partes  propterea  destinatis.  Nonne  pro  tua  et  regni  tui 
procuranda  salute,  ac  adversitate  vitanda  noctes  insomnes  duximus 
et  subdivimus  intollerabiles  quasi  labores,  postquam  ad  apostolatus 
apicem  coelestis  dispositio  nos  vocavit?  Nonne  quotidianis  tractati- 
bus  et  sollicitudinibus  pro  tuis  agendis  insistimus  sinen  intermissione 
laborum?  Certe  non  condignum  pro  iis,  nobis  offers  retributionis 
effectum,  non  Ecclesiae  matri  tune  pro  grandibus  tibi,  et  progenitoribus 
tuis  impensis  muneribus  gratiarum,  et  grata  animi  vicissitudine  cor- 
respondes,  si  praedictae  constitutioni  credita  ingeratur  intentio: 
quinimmo  nobis  et  ipsi  mala  pro  bonis,  et  amara  pro  dulcibus  red- 

didisses ut  a  te  provocaremur  injuriis,  et  provocati 

colluctaremur  ad  in  invicem  in  querelis,  ac  si  etiam  Dei  et  Ecclesiae 
adversantia  non  curares;  non  considerans  provide  circumposita  regno 
tuo  regiones  et  regna,  voluntatem  et  statum  praesidentium  in  eisdem, 
neque  tuorum  conceptus  forsitan  subditorum  constitutorum  in 
diversis  partibus  regni  tui. 

Leva  in  circuitu  oculos  tuos,  et  vide:  cogita  et  repensa  Roma- 
norum,  Angliae,  Hispaniarum  regna,  quae  quasi  undiquet  te  circum- 
dant,  eorumque  potentias,  ac  strenuitatem,  et  multitudinem  incolarum, 
et  patenter  agnosces,  quod  non  fuit  tempus  acceptabile,  non  dies 
salutis,  diebus  istis  nos  et  ipsam  ecclesiam  talibus  punctionibus 
tangere,  talibus  perturbare  puncturis:  nee  revocare  debuisses  in 
dubium,  quod  nostri  et  ecclesiae  adjutorii  et  favoris  sola  subtractio 
in  tantum  debilitaret  te  ac  tuos,  quod,  ut  caetera  tua  perinde 
omittamus  incommoda,  persecutiones  adversas  ferre  non  posses.  At 
ubi  nos  tibi  et  eamdem  ecclesiam  adversaries  efficeres  principales,  adeo 
nostra  et  ejusdem  ecclesiae,  ac  aliorum  praedictorum  provocationis 
gravior  tibi  sarcina  redderetur,  quod  ad  ejus  pondus  tui  efficerentur 
humeri  impotentes.  Absit  quod  insolentia  consiliariorum  tuorum  ad 
tantum  exterminii  praecipitium  te  deducat.  Absit  tuis  sensibus 
quaevis  incalescat  durities  ad  talia  prorumpendi.  Absit  quod  gratus 
olim  filius  tarn  graviter  matri  reddatur  exosus,  et  quod  suis  demeritis 
solita  dulcedinis  ubere  subtrahere  sibi  ex  necessitate  cogatur,  et  qui- 
busvis  periculosis  eventibus  exponere  vel  relinquere  non  adjutum. 
Praepara  in  judicio,  fili  charissime,  mentem  tuam,  et  discerne  ac 
judica  quid  Apostolicae  sedi  conceptus  considerationis  advenerit, 
dum  diebus  istis  circa  discussionem  et  examinationem  miraculorum, 
quae  ad  invocationem  clarae  memoriae  Ludovici  avitui  facta  dicuntur, 
cum  nostris  fratribus  vacaremus,  talia  nobis  xenia  praesentasti,  talia 
praemisisti  dona,  quibus  Dominum  ad  iram  provocas,  et  indignationem 
non  solum  nostram,  sed  et  ipsius  ecclesiae  promereris  ?  Cur  degenerat 
tuse  dementia  juventutis  a  felicibus  actibus  progenitorum  tuorum, 


484  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

quibus  dictam  sedem  fide  pura,  et  devotione  sincera  summis  ab  antique 
studiis  coluerint,  se  ipsius  beneplacitis  coaptando  ?  Succede  virtutibus 
qusesumus,  qui  succedis  et  regno,  nullam  immixturus  maculam  ex- 
cellentis  tui  luminis  claritati. 

Quod  si  forsan  ad  iniquaB  suggestionis  instantiam  assumpseris 
causam  edendae  constitutionis,  quam  nuper  pro  ecclesiastica  edidimus 
libertate,  tails  profecto  tain  suggestorum  quam  suggest!  motus  nullus 
fulgitur  auxilio  rationis:  constitutio  enim  nostra,  si  ad  rivalem  sen- 
sum,  postposito  congruo,  non  trahatur,  id,  si  bene  perpenditur,  statuit, 
quod  alias  per  sanctiones  canonicas  est  statutum,  licet  pcenas  contra 
trans  gressores  adjecerit,  nonnullis  excommunicatis,  quasi  vitio  pec- 
care  desinentibus  potius  formidine  poenas,  quam  amore  virtutis.  Non 
enim  precise  statuimus,  pro  defensione  ac  necessitatibus  tuis  vel 
regni  tui  ab  eisdem  prselatis,  ecclesiasticisve  personis  pecuniarium 
subsidium  non  praestari :  sed  adjecimus  id  non  fieri  sine  nostra  licentia 
speciali,  adductis  in  considerationem  nostram  exactionibus  intole- 
rabilibus  ecclesiis  et  personis  ecclesiasticis,  religiosis  et  secularibus, 
dicti  regni  ab  ofEcialibus  tuis  auctoritate  tua  impositis  atque  factis; 
de  futuris  potius  verisimiliter  formidantes,  cum  expraeteritis  certi- 
tude pragsumi  valeat  de  futuris :  sed  te  non  novimus  ad  tales  exac- 
tiones  auctoritate  fulcitum,  cujus  auctoritatis  abusum  in  te  ac  quoli- 
bet  principe  seculari  divina  et  humana  jura,  quinimo  judicia  de- 
testantur :  cum  tibi  sit  et  eis  talis  penitus  auctoritas  interdicta,  quod 
tibi  pro  tua,  et  successorum  tuorum  salute  ad  perpetuam  rei  memor- 
iam  praesentibus  nuntiamus;  nullique  suggerenti  contrarium  fidem 
adhibeas,  quinimo  nee  praestes  auditum. 

Objicias,  si  quando  per  te  vel  progenitores  tuos  pro  necesitati- 
bus  dicti  regni  ad  eamdem  sedem  habitus  sit  recursus,  et  inanis 
pertransierit  petitio  aures  ejus,  quin  fueritis  efficaciter  exauditi. 
Ubi  regni  nempe  gravis,  quod  absit,  prsedicti  necessitas  immineret, 
nedum  ab  ipsius  praelatis,  et  personis  ecclesiasticis  tibi  vel  ipsi  sedes 
eadem  concederet,  ac  faceret  subveniri;  verum  etiam,  si  exigeret 
casus,  ad  calices,  cruces,  aliaque  propria  vasa  sacra  manus  exten- 
deret,  priusquam  tantum  et  tale  regnum,  tarn  ipsi  se  charum,  immo 
charissimum  et  ab  antique  devotum  exponeret  minoris  curse  defectui, 
quo  minus  ab  ea  efficacis  defensionis  praesidia  sortiretur. 

Nunc  autem,  amantissime  fili,  considera  quis  Rex,  quisve  princeps 
regnum  tuum  non  impugnatus  a  te,  vel  non  offensus  impugnat. 
Nonne  Hex  Romanorum  fuisse  occupatas  a  te  tuisque  praedecessori- 
bus,  seu  occupatas  teneri  civitates  et  terras  seu  limites  ad  Imperium 
pertinentes  cum  instantia  conqueritur,  et  specialiter  Burgundiae  comi- 
tatum,  quod  notum  est  fore  feudum  descendens  ab  Imperio,  et 
recognoscendum  ab  ipso?  Nonne  charissimus  in  Christo  filius  noster 
Rex  AngliaB  illustris  de  nonnullis  terris  Guasconise  asserit  illud  idem? 
Numquid  super  iis  dicti  Reges  denegant  stare  juri?  Numquid 
Apostolicse  sedis,  quse  Christicolis  omnibus  prseeminet,  judicium  vel 
ordinationem  reciisant?  Dumque  in  eos  super  iis  ipsi  peccare  te 
asserunt,  de  hoc  judicium  ad  sedem  eamdem  non  -est  dubium  per- 
tinere.  Profecto  qui  contra  dictos  Reges  assumptionis,  et  prosecu- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  485 

tionis  malum  dederunt  consulendo  vel  inducendo  consilium,  dant 
periculosiorem  progressum:  nee  est  habenda  fiducia  super  hoc  veris- 
imiliter  boni  finis,  cum  ea,  quae  mala  sunt  inchoata  principio,  ut 
frequentius  vix  bono  exitu  peragantur.  Pone  in  recta  statera  ani- 
marum  pericula,  corporum  csedes,  expensarum  voragines,  damna 
rerum,  quae  occasione  assumptionis  et  tuorum  processum  evenerint, 
rationis  sequens  judicium,  et  non  impetum  voluntatis,  a  malorum 
consiliariorum  insidiis  elongatus,  et  tune  manifesto  cognosces,  te 
fuisse  deceptum,  nee  expedivisse  te  talia  assumpsisse. 

Quid  ergo  tibi  accideret,  si,  quod  absit,  sedem  ipsam  offenderes 
graviter,  eamque  hostium  tuorum  constitueres  adjutricem,  quin 
potius  contra  te  faceres  principalem?  Cum  nos  et  fratres  nostri,  si 
Deus  ex  alto  concesserit,  parati  simus  non  solum  persecutiones,  damna 
rerum,  et  exilia  sustinere:  sed  et  corporalem  ipsam  mortem  subire 
pro  ecclesiastica  libertate.  Sunt  et  alii,  sicut  ad  nostram  notitiam 
est  deductum,  qui  maligne  surrepunt,  dicentes:  Jam  non  poterunt 
praelati  et  personae  ecclesiastics  regni  tui  servire  de  feudis,  vel  sub- 
ventianes  facere,  in  quibus  feudorum  ratione  tenentur:  jam  non 
poterunt  unum  sciphum,  unum  equum  dare  liberaliter  Regi  suo.  Non 
fertur  ad  tales  et  consimiles  interpretationes  subdolas  dictae  nostrae 
constitutionis  intentio:  tarn  falsidicos  interpretes  non  admittit,  sicut 
haec  plenius  aliquibus  tuis  nunciis  et  familiaribus  viva?  vocis  oraculo 
ssepius  duximus  exponenda. 

Quantumlibet  autem  per  subdolos  impulsus  versatus  sis,  ut  caderes 
ob  praedicta,  et  ea  nos  turbaverint,  et  ad  indignationem  non  sine 
ratione  moverint,  nos  tamen  paterni  amoris  soliti,  ac  eadem  ecclesia 
te  sui  uteri  filium  oblivisci  non  possumus,  quin,  suspense  rigore,  te 
in  benedictionibus  praeveniendo  dulcedinis,  et  via  mansuetudinis 
prosequendo,  experiamur  primitus  quam  reverenter,  quam  efficaciter 
monita  paterna  suscipies,  et  medicamenta  curantis  illius  periti  medici 
Samaritani  vicarii,  qui  super  vulnera  hominis  cujusdam  de  Jerusalem 
descendentis  in  Jericho,  qui  inciderat  in  latrones,  et  fuerat  spoliatus, 
ac  relictus  plagis  impositis  semivivus:  misericordia  motus  oleum  et 
vinum  apposuit. 

Igitur  tali  exemplo  a  fomentis  olei  benignius  inchoantes,  ecce 
venerabilem  fratrem  nostrum  Vivariensem  episcopum,  virum  quidem 
probatse  religionis,  scientise  eminentis,  circumspectionis  matures,  ex 
conversatione  diutina  nobis  et  fratribus  nostris  notum  et  charum,  ac 
tui  honoris  et  commodi  zelatorem,  qui  et  de  regno  et  terra  tua  trahxit 
originem,  ad  te  providimus  destinandum,  ut  praemissa  solerter  et  clare 
celsitudini  regiae  oraculo  vivae  vocis  exponat,  et  exprimat,  ut  praa- 
mittitur,  mentem  nostram,  quern  super  his  et  de  contingentibus  plene 
duximus  informandum.  Serenitatem  itaque  regiam  monemns,  roga- 
mus,  et  hortamur  attente,  per  apostolica  tibi  scripta  mandantes, 
quatenus  non  ad  animum  revoces,  sed  gratanter  accipiens,  quod  et 
instanter  reducere  nitimur  ad  salutem,  paterna  medicamina  suscipias 
reverenter,  nostrisque  tibi  et  tuo  regno  salubribus  monitis  acquies- 
cens,  errata  sic  corrigens  per  te  ipsum,  nee  permittens  in  antea  per 
falsa  contagia  te  seduci;  ita  quod  a  Deo  praemium  exinde  consequaris, 


486  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

nostram  et  dictae  ecclesise  benevolentiam  tibi  conserves  et  gratiam,  et 
apud  homines  bonam  f amam ;  nee  operteat  nos  adalia  et  minus  usitata 
remedia,  perseveranter  instante,  ac  pulsante,  nee  non  cogente,  justitia, 
extendere  mantis  nostras,  quamvis  hoc  inviti,  et  involutarii  f  aceremus. 
Dat.  Anagnise  VII.  kal.  octobris  anno.  II. 


DOCUMENT  (0). 

DIVISION  OF  THE  FIEFS  AMONG  THE  COLONNAS. 

{From,  the  archives  of  Constable  Colonna,  in  Patrini  Mon.  19). 

In  nomine  Domini.  Anno  Dominicae  Incarnationis  1252.  Indic- 
tione  X.  Mense  Februarii  die  7.  Nos  Petrus  de  Colupna  natus  qm. 
D.  Oddonis  de  Columna,  Landulphus,  et  Oddo  nati  ipsius  Petri  pro 
nobis,  et  pro  Peiro,  Leone,  et  FortisbracJiia  filiis  mei  Petri,  et  ipsorum 
nomine  pro  quibus  promittimus  nos  facturos,  et  curaturos,  quod  ipsi 
omni  tempore  omnia,  et  singula,  quae  in  hoc  contractu  dicentur  rata, 
et  firma  habebunt,  et  contra  ea  non  venient,  facient,  adimplebunt, 
ratificabunt  expresse  propriis  nostris  voluntatibus  in  praesentia  re- 
ligiosi  viri  Fratris  Joannis  de  Columna  Ordinis  Praedicatorum 
Prioris  totius  Romanae  Provinciae  in  ipso  Ordine,  et  ipsius  arbitrio, 
seu  arbitratu  in  praesentia  DD.  Judicum,  scilicet  Consolini  qm. 
Petri  Judicis,  Bartholomaei  Petri  Judicis,  Petri  Oddonis  de  Insula, 
Angeli  Com.  Baroncii  Petri  Consulum,  Petri  Nicoli  Albigellae,  et 
Pauli  Petri  Pauli  Rubei,  et  Notariorum  Joannis  Nicolai,  Jacobi,  et 
Rodulphi  damus,  et  concedimus,  renunciamus,  et  refutamus,  cedimus, 
et  mandamus  tibi  Domino  Oddoni  de  Columna  nato  qm.  D.  Jordani 
de  Colupna  consobrino  mei  Petri  tuisque  heredibus,  et  successoribus 
perpetuo  etc.  totam  partem  nostram,  quam  habemus,  habere,  seu 
vendicare  possemus  in  Civitate  Penestre,  Monte,  et  Rocca  ipsius,  et 
in  ejus  Territorio,  seu  Tenimento,  et  Castris  Zagaroli,  Colupnae, 
Capranicae,  et  medietatis  castri  Prati  Porcorum,  et  in  Roccis,  et 
Territoriis,  seu  Tenimentis  ipsorum,  et  Munitionibus  Augustae,  et 
Montis  Acceptorii.  Quae  pars  contingens  me  ipsius  Petrum  in 
praedictis  Civitate,  Castris,  et  Territoriis,  seu  Tenimentis  ipsorum, 
et  Munitionibus,  est  medietas  ipsorum  pluris,  vel  minoris  cum  medie- 
tatibus  vassallorum  tarn  militum,  quam  peditum,  et  jurisdictionum 
in  ipsos  vassallos,  et  edificiorum  novorum,  et  antiquorum,  terrarum 
cultarum,  et  non  cultarum,  sylvarum,  pratorum,  pantanorum,  vin- 
earum,  ortorum,  canapinarum,  et  omnium  aliorum  jurium,  utilitatum, 
et  pertinentium  ipsorum  Civitatis,  et  Castrorum,  Roccarum,  et 
Munitionum.  Quae  pars  nostra  unita  est  pro  indiviso,  cum  medie- 
tate,  seu  residuis,  partibus  tui  Domini  Oddonis,  et  ad  te  D.  Oddonem 
pertinentibus  in  praedictis  Civitate,  Castris,  Roccis,  et  ipsorum  Ter- 
ritoriis, et  Munitionibus.  Item  damus,  cedmus,  mandamus,  concedi- 
mus, renuntiamus,  et  refutamus  tibi  dicto  D.  Oddoni  omnia  jura,  et 
rationis  generaliter,  quae  mini  dicto  Petro,  et  praedictis  filiis  meis, 
vel  alicui  ipsorum  competunt,  competere  possunt,  aut  poterunt  quo- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  487 

cumque  modo,  et  quocumque  jure  in  predictis  civitate,  Castris,  et 
Roccis,  territoriis,  et  Munitionibus  praedictis  tain  in  ipsa  parte  per 
nos  nunc  data,  et  concessa  tibi  D.  Oddoni,  quam  in  aliis  residuis 
partibus  ad  te,  dictum  D.  Oddonem  spectantibus,  et  in  totis  ipsis 
civitate,  castris,  roccis,  et  ipsorum  territoriis,  et  munitionibus  prae- 
dictis, et  in  omnibus,  et  singulis  praedictis  occasione  arbitrii,  seu 
arbitratuum  latorum  dudum  inter  nos  per  D.  Petrum  Praefectum 
Urbis,  et  occasione  quarumcumque  sententiarum,  consiliorum,  inves- 
timentorum  factorum  pro  nobis,  vel  aliquo  nostrum  contra  te  D. 
Oddonem  in  praedictis  civitate,  castris,  roccis,  et  ipsorum  ter- 
ritoriis, et  munitionibus,  et  generaliter  quibuscumque  aliis  oc- 
casionibus,  et  modis  ipsa  jura  nobis,  vel  alicui  nostrum  competunt, 
competere  possunt  in  praedictis  omnibus,  et  singulis,  vel  ex  suc- 
cessione  Parentum  meorum  Petri,  scilicet  patris,  et  avi,  vel  quo- 
cumque alio  modo,  ita  quod  penes  nos,  vel  aliquem  nostrum  nihil 
juris  in  praedictis  aliquo  tempore,  quoquo  modo  reservatur,  imo  in 
te  D.  Oddonem  ipsa  jura  per  praesentia  penitus,  et  in  solidum  tras- 
ferantur.  Item  damus,  cedimus,  concedimus,  et  mandamus  tibi  jam 
dicto  D.  Oddoni  pro  nobis,  et  dictis  filiis  mei  Petri  omnia  jura,  et 
actiones,  quae  nobis,  vel  alicui  nostrum  competunt,  competere  possunt, 
aut  poterunt  praenominatis  occasionibus,  et  quibuscumque  aliis  in 
castris  Sancti  Viti,  Montis  Manni,  Castri  Novi,  et  Pisciani,  et  ip- 
sorum territoriis  contra  possessores,  et  detentores  ipsorum.  Item 
damus,  et  concedimus,  renunciamus,  et  refutamus  tibi  jam  dicto  D. 
Oddoni  omnia  jura,  et  actiones,  quae  nobis,  vel  alicui  nostrum  com- 
petunt, competere  possunt,  aut  poterunt  contra  te,  et  in  bonis  tuis 
occasione  fructuum,  proventuum,  et  reddituum  perceptorum,  seu 
qui  percepi  potuerunt  per  te  dictum  D.  Oddonem  de  praedictis  civi- 
tate, castris,  et  eorum  territoriis  a  te  mihi  datis,  et  concessis,  ut  in 
instrumentis  meis  plene  poterit  contineri,  et  constituimus  te  dictum 
D.  Oddonem  procuratorem  in  rem  tuam  in  praedictis  omnibus  juri- 
bus,  et  actionibus,  ut  succedas  in  locum,  et  privilegium  nostrum,  ut 
cujuslibet  nostri,  et  proprio  nomine  agas  pro  praedictis  juribus,  petas, 
excipias,  et  defendas,  et  facias,  quae  tibi  perpetuo  placuerit;  nulla 
nobis,  et  alicui  nostrum  in  praedictis  omnibus,  et  singulis,  aliquo 
tempore  reservatione  factor.  Tenutam  quoque  et  possessionem,  quam 
confitemur  te  D.  Oddonem  habere  de  praedictis  civitate  Penestra, 
Rocca  et  Monte,  et  Territorio  ipsius  vassallis,  et  vassallorum  ju- 
ribus, et  de  castris  Zagarolo,  Colupna,  et  Capranica  Roccis  et  Terri- 
toriis ipsorum,  vassallis,  juribus,  vassalorum,  et  de  Munitionibus 
praedictis  integram,  pacificam,  et  tranquillam,  et  vacuam,  seu  vacan- 
tem,  tibi  per  omnia  confinnamus,  et  corroboramus,  ut  quemadmodum 
tenes  nunc  praedicta  in  solidum,  ita  semper  perpetuo  teneas,  et 
possideas.  Civitatis  praedicta  cum  Rocca,  et  Monte  cum  Territorio 
ipsius  posita  est  in  distructu  Urbis  in  contrata,  quae  dicitur  Ro- 
mangna  Fines  hii  sunt,  est  Tenimentum  Cavae,  et  Roccae  Cavae,  est 
tenimentum  Vallismontonis,  et  Tenimentum  Lariani,  et  Teni- 
mentum Aligidi,  et  Tenimentum  Zagaroli,  et  Tenimentum  Gal- 
licani,  et  Sancti  Joannis  Camporacii,  et  Tenimentum  Poli,  et  Teni- 


488  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

mentum  Montis  Manni.  Castra  autem  praedicta  Zagaroli,  et  Capran- 
icae  posita  sunt  in  Dioecesi  dictae  civitatis  cum  ipsorum  territoriis. 
Fines  ad  Castrum  Zagaroli,  et  ejus  territorii  sunt  ii.  Ab  uno  latere 
est  Tenimentum  Penestrae,  Tenimentum  Gallicani,  Tenimentum 
Colupnae,  et  Tenimentum  S.  Cesarei.  Fines  Capranicae,  et  ejus 
Territorii  sunt  hii,  videlicet  Tenimentum  Castelli  Novi,  et  Montis 
Manni,  et  Genazzani,  Sancti  Viti,  et  Penestrae  Reliquum  autem 
castrum  Columnae  positum  est  in  Dioecesi  Tusculana,  cujus  fines 
hii  sunt,  scilicet  Tenimentum  Zagaroli  S.  Cesarei,  Roccae  Pejurae, 
Montis  de  Compatris,  Montis  porcii,  et  Pratri  porae,  Passarani,  et 
Castilionis.  Munitiones  autem  praedictae  positae  sunt  in  TJrbe.  Fines 
ad  Augustam  ab  uno  Flumen,  ab  alio  via,  qua  itur  a  Sancto  Blaso, 
et  exit  in  viam,  qua  itur  usque  Urbem,  et  est  via,  qua  itur  ad  Flumen 
a  S.  Marina.  Fines  ad  Montem  Acceptorium  hii  sunt.  Domus  Ro- 
manucciarum,  et  Synibaldorum,  ab  alio  Domus  Macellariorum, 
et  Domus  Cesarlinorum,  ab  alio  sunt  Domus  Zarlonum,  et  Teoder- 
inorum.  Praedictam  autem  dationem,  et  concessionem,  et  omnia,  et 
singula,  quae  supradicta  sunt  tibi  domino  Oddoni  facimus  ex  causa 
transactions  inter  nos  praesentialiter,  et  placabiliter  initae  de  multis 
litibus,  et  controversiis,  et  discordiis,  quaestionibus  guerris,  et  offensis 
hinc  inde  invicem  inter  nos  habitis,  et  ventilatis  occasione  dictorum 
civitatis,  Castrorum,  Roccarum,  et  Munitionum  dividendo  ipsa  inter 
nos;  et  pro  eo  quod  tu  dominus  Oddo  similiter  causa  transactions 
dedisti,  et  concessisti  mihi  dicto  Petro  Castra  Gallicani,  Sancti 
Joannis,  et  Sancti  Cesarei  cum  suis  Tenimentis,  ut  in  istrumentis 
meis  plene  continetur;  nee  non  ex  arbitrio,  seu  arbitratu  inter  nos 
latis  per  dictum  religiosum  virum  Fratrem  Joannem  de  Cohimna 
occasione  dictarum  quaestionum  et  offensarum,  in  quo  dicta  Civitas, 
Castra,  Roccae,  Territoria,  Munitiones  omnes  tibi  sunt  adjudicatae, 
ut  seriatim  in  dicto  arbitrio,  et  alias  plene  continetur.  Praeterea 
promittimus  tibi  domino  Oddoni,  quod  praedictam  partem  nostram 
Civitatis,  et  Castrorum,  et  Roccarum,  et  Munitionum,  et  eorum  ter- 
ritorii, et  tenimentorum,  et  praedictarum  Munitionum,  et  jura  nobis, 
et  alicui  nostrum  competentia,  et  quae  in  futurum  competere  poterunt 
nulli  alii  personae,  vel  loco,  seu  Collegia  dedimus,  concessimus,  vel 
alienavimus,  nee  contractum,  seu  quasi  contractum  fecimus  nos,  nee 
Pater  mei,  Petri;  et  si  contrarium  apparuerit,  et  tu  dominus  Oddo 
in  damnum  incurreris,  et  expensas  feceris  propterea,  seu  occasione 
praedicta,  vel  quia  praedicti  Petrus,  Leo,  et  Fortisbrachia  filii  mei 
Petri  non  ratificaverint  omnia,  et  singula,  quae  dicta  sunt,  vel  contra 
ea  quoquo  modo  venerint,  omnia  ipsa,  damna,  et  expensas  tibi  domino 
Oddoni  quilibet  nostrum  in  solidum  redere,  et  solvere,  et  reficere 
promittimus.  Aliter  autem  de  evictione  praedictorum  datorum,  et 
concessorum  tibi,  per  nos  teneri  tibi  volumus,  nisi  de  facto  nostro, 
vel  D.  Oddonis  Patris  mei  Peiri,  et  tu  ipse  D.  Oddo  sic  actum,  pac- 
tum,  et  conventum  inter  nos  esse,  et  fuisse  vis,  et  confiteris.  Pro 
quibus  omnibus,  et  singulis  observandis,  et  firmiter,  et  plenarie  adim- 
plendis  omnia  bona  nostra  mobilia,  et  immobilia,  praesentia,  et 
futura  tibi  D.  Oddoni  obligamus,  quae  quantum  ad  praedicta  perti- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  489 

nent  tuo  nomine  possidere  constituimus,  dantes  tibi  potestatem  lib- 
eram  ipsa  bona  tibi  obligata  auctoritate  propria  intrare,  tenere,  et 
possidere,  vendere,  obligate,  et  facere  quod  tibi  perpetuo  placet  donee 
praedictis  omnibus,  et  singulis  tibi  fuerit  per  nos,  et  quemlibet 
nostrum  plenariae  satisfactum.  Haec  omnia,  et  singula,  quae  super- 
ius  dicta  sunt  nos  dictus  Petrus  de  Columna,  Landulphus,  et  Oddo 
filii  ipsius  Petri  pronobis,  et  pro  Petro,  Leone,  et  Fortisbrachia 
filiis  mei  Petri  pro  nobis,  et  nostris,  et  praedictorum  haeredibus,  et 
successoribus  in  perpetuum  tibi  D.  Oddoni  pro  te,  filiis,  et  haeredibus 
tuis,  et  successoribus  in  perpetuum  facere,  attendere,  observare,  et 
implere  promittimus  sub  poena  trium  millium  marcharum  argent! ; 
qua  poena  soluta,  vel  non,  praedicta  semper  firma  durent:  praesti- 
toque  a  nobis  corporali  juramento  de  praedictis  omnibus  firmiter  ob- 
servandis,  et  adimplendis  tibi  D.  Oddoni,  ut  superius  dictum  est. 
Quam  scribere  rogavimus  Joannem  Nicoli  Sacri  Romani  Imperil 
Judicem,  et  Scribam  in  mense,  et  Indictione  X.  suprascripta. 

Fr.  Yldibrandus  de  ord.  Praedicatorum  Testis 

Fr.  Paparonus  de  ord.  Praedicatorum  Testis 

Stephanus  Pappa  Clericus  S.  Laurentii  in  Lucina  Testis 

Praesbyter  Petrus  Sublasii  ejusdem  Ecc.  Praesbyter  Testis 

Dominus  Jacobus  Guidonis  Clericus  ejusdem  Ecc.  Testis 

Dominus  Conradus  Malabranca  Testis 

Dominus  Leonardus  Clericus  ejusdem  Ecc.  Testis 

Joannes  Brenna  Testis 

Jacobus  Petri  Sinibaldi  Testis 

Stephanus  Cintii  Sinibaldi  Testis 

Tebaldinus  Testis 

Joannes  Nicoli  Sacri  Romani  Imperil  Judex,  et  scriba  rogatus 
scripsi,  publicavi,  complevi,  et  absolvi. 

Loco  Sigilli. 

DOCUMENT  (P). 

ACT   APPOINTING   CARDINAL    JAMES   COLONNA,   ABSOLUTE   ADMINISTRATOR   OP 
THE  PROPERTY  OF  THE  COLONNAS. 

(From  the  Barberini  archives,  in  Petrini  Mon,  21). 

In  nomine  etc.  Anno  Domini  1292  Sede  vacante,  die  lunae  28 
Aprilis  in  presentia  mei  Joannis  etc.  Parlatoris  etc.  Nobiles  viri 
DD.  Joannes,  Oddo,  Matthejus,  et  Laudulphus  de  Columna  fratres 
filii  quondam  D.  Jordani  de  Columna  etc.  commiserunt  pro  se,  et 
heredibus  etc.  D.  Jacobo  S.  Mariae  in  Via  lata  Diacono  Cardinali 
fratri  eorum  praesenti  etc.  gubernationem,  curam,  regimen,  administra- 
tionem,  tenuatam,  et  possessionem  infrascriptarum  terrarum,  locorum, 
et  rerum  suarum,  et  ipsius  D.  Cardinalis,  vassallorum,  et  hominum 


490  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

ipsarum  terrarum  etc.  ita  quod  ea  possit  per  se,  et  per  alium  etc. 
exercere  etc.  et  fructus,  redditus,  et  proventus  praedictorum  petere, 
sibi  placueri  etc.,  voluerunt  etiam,  et  potestatem  dederunt  ipsi  D.  Car- 
percipere  etc.  ac  inter  eos,  et  ipsum  D.  Cardinalem  distribuere  sicut 
dinali  quod  etc.  possit  sua  auctoritate  etc.  terras,  res,  loca  ipsa,  et 
Roccas  etc.  intrare,  accipere,  custodire  etc.,  hoc  pact  etc.  quod  ipse  D. 
Cardinalis,  et  sui  heredes,  et  successores  nullo  modo  teneantur  ad  red- 
ditionem  rationis  dictae  administrationis  etc.,  et  quidquid  ipsum  D. 
Cardinalem  occasione  dictae  administrationis,  et  divisionis  debere 
contigerit  etc.  eisdem  nobilibus  etc.,  nunc  ipsi  Nobiles  per  pactum  ex- 
pressum  remiserunt. 

Res  autem,  et  terrae,  et  loca  sunt  haec:  Civitas  Penestrina,  Mons 
Penestrinus,  Castrum  Capranicae  Penestrinensis  dioecesis,  Castrum 
Zagaroli  ejusdem  dioecesis,  Castrum  Columnae  Tusculanae  dioecesis, 
et  medietas  Castri,  seu  villae  Petraporti  Tusculanae  dioecesis  etc., 
nee  non  tenimenti  Algidi,  et  omnia,  et  singula  jura,  quae  ipsi  habent 
etc.  in  ipso  teni  mento  Algidi,  et  Castello  Algidi  Acta  sunt  praedicta 
Romae  in  Domibus  S.  Laurentii  in  Lucina  etc. 

Ego  Joannes  dictus  Parlator  de  Secia  apostolicae  Sedis  auctoritate 
Judex,  et  notarius  etc. 


DOCUMENT  (Q). 

PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  THE  COLONNAS. 

Bonifacius,  etc.  ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam. 

Praeteritorum  temporum  nefandis  Columensium  actibus,  et 
praesentium  pravis  operibus  recidivis,  ac  futuris,  de  quibus  ve- 
resimiliter  formidabatur,  in  considerationem  prudenter  adductis,  venit 
patenter  in  lucem,  quod  Columnensium  domus  exasperans,  amara 
domesticis,  molesta  vicinis,  Romanorum  reipublicae  impugnatrix, 
sanctae  Ecclesiae  Romanae  rebellis,  Urbis  et  patriae  pertubatrix, 
consortis  impatiens,  ingrata  beneficiis,  subesse  nolens,  humilitatis 
ignara,  plena  furoribus,  Deum  non  metuens,  nee  volens  homines 
revereri,  habens  de  Urbis  et  orbis  turbatione  pruritum,  studuit  charis- 
simum  in  Christo  filium  nostrum  Jacobum  Aragoniae  Regem 
illustrem,  tune  hostem  ecclesiae  ac  rebellem,  Siculisque  perfidis 
praesidentem  de  facto,  in  nostrum  et  charissimi  in  Christo  filii  nostri 
Siciliae  Regis  illustris  grave  praeiudicium,  et  gravamen  Chris- 
tianitatis  et  Terrae  sanctae  succursus  grande  dispendium  in  rebellione, 
tenere,  tarn  sibi  quam  nobili  juveni  Friderico  nato  quondam  Petri 
olim  Regis  Aragoniae,  in  crimine  criminoso  favendo.  Ut  illud 
notissimum  omittamus,  qualiter  quondam  Joannes  de  Columna  tit. 
S.  Praxedis  praesbyter  Cardinalis,  et  Oddo  de  Columna  nepos  ipsius, 
pater  Jacobi  S.  Mariae  in  Via  lata,  et  avus  Petri  de  Columna  S.  Eus- 
tachii  diaconorum  Cardinalium,  tempore  felicis  recordationis  Gregorii 
Papae  IX.  praedecessoris  nostri  fuerunt  dure  et  graviter  ipsam 
ecclesiam  persecuti,  cum  damnatae  memoriae  Friderico  olim  Roman- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  491 

orum  Imperatori,  supradictae  ecclesiae  publico  persecutore  et  hoste, 
tempore,  quo  quondam  Mattheus  Kubeus  de  domo  filiorum  Ursi 
sororius  dicti  Oddonis  senatus  in  Urbe  regimen  exercebat  ad  honorem 
et  obsequium  ecclesiae  memoratae :  a  cujus  Matthaei  domo  dictus  Car- 
dinalis  et  Oddo  et  eorum  posteri  multa  beneficia  receperunt:  praeser- 
tim  a  sanctae  memoriae  Nicolao  III.  praedecessore  nostro,  qui  dictum 
Jacobum  juvenem  satis  et  inscium,  perniciosum  tamen  postmodum, 
hypocrisim  tune  temporis  periculose  gerentem,  ad  Cardinalatus 
provexit  honorem :  quod  utinam  non  fecisset,  quia  nee  sedi  Apostolicae, 
nee  Christianitati,  nee  dicti  praedecessoris  Nicolai  domui  talis 
promotio  expedivit,  quam  dicti  Jacobus  et  Petrus  ac  sui,  velut 
ingratitudinis  filii,  et  beneficiorum  immemores,  multipliciter  im- 
pugnarunt.  Terras  etiam  subiectas  ecclesiae  sibique  rebelles  in  re- 
bellione  fovebant  in  hoc,  dantes  eisdem  auxilium  et  favorem. 

Novissimis  vero  temporibus  dicti  juvenis  Friderici,  latenter  discur- 
rentibus  nunciis  per  Urbem  et  loca  vicina,  ut  immissis  scandalis  ea 
possent  ipsius  subjicere  ditioni,  licet  id  procurarent  homines  dictae 
domus  Columnensis,  et  ad  hoc  eis  ministrarent  auxilia  et  favores; 
mansuetudinis  tamen  Apostolicae  sedis  benigna  sinceritas,  quae 
libentius  emendat  in  subditis  peccata,  quam  puniat,  nee  exerit  ferrum 
praecisionis  in  morbos,  quos  sanare  potest  mulcebris  lenitas  medicinae ; 
eos  studuit  nunc  paterna  lenitatis  dulcedine  alloqui,  nunc  verbis 
charitativae  correctionis  inducere,  ut  a  talibus  abstinerent,  ipsorumque 
elatam  pertinaciam,  immo  effraenem  superbiam,  non  semel  sed  pluries 
in  fulgore  terrifico  comminationis  increpavit,  tendens  ante  ipsos  arcum 
justitiae  in  rigore,  quo  sagitta  perpetuae  dejectionis,  solita  non 
converti  retrorsum,  emittitur,  ut  formidabilis  vindictae  significationis 
clementer  exhibita  stupori  eorum  sensum  timoris  incuteret,  et  fugam 
ad  misericordiam  per  compendium  poenitentiae  suaderet.  Sed  nee  sic 
profecimus  apud  eos:  traxit  enim  illos  in  desperationis  laqueum 
moles  praeponderans  peccatorum,  ut  nee  rationibus  nee  correctionibus, 
monitionibus,  sive  minis  reduci  potuerint  ad  salutem:  quin  potius 
velut  aspis  surda  suarum  aurium  obstruxerunt  auditum,  eligentes 
quasi  pro  gloria  confusionis  opprobrium,  et  irreparabilis  ruinae 
periculum  pro  tutela. 

Periculis  vero  obviare  volentes,  dictis  Jacobo  et  Petro  Cardinalibus 
districte  mandavimus,  ut  terras,  quas  Stephanus  ipsius  Jacobi  nepos, 
et  frater  Petri  praefati  tenere  vulgariter  dicebatur,  videlicet  civitatem 
Perusin.  castra  Columna  et  Zagaroli,  procurarent  custodienda  ad 
nostrum  beneplacitum  assignari,  ne  per  ea  Urbis  et  patriae  possent 
quies  et  tranquillitas  impediri,  et  ut  ex  eis  posset  praestari  auxilium 
dicto  Friderico  hosti  ecclesiae  memoratae;  utque  ipse  hostis,  et  vali- 
tores,  seu  adjutores  ipsius  non  receptarentur  in  eis  assignationem 
quorum  non  revocabatur  in  dubium  ab  ipsorum  Jacobi  et  Petri  volun- 
tate  pendere,  quae  conficto  seu  quaesito  colore  teneri  per  dictum 
Stephanum  dicebantur,  ne  dilecto  filio  Matthaeo  praeposito  ecclesiae 
de  sancto  Audumaro  Morinensis  dioecesis,  et  nobilibus  viris  Oddoni 
et  Landulpho  fratibus  dicti  I.  filii  saepedicti  Oddonis  assignretur 
paterna  et  hereditaria  portio,  quae  in  dictis  civitate  et  castris  com- 


492  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

petebat  eisdem,  quam  propter  duritiem  et  crudelitatem  dictorum 
Jacob!  et  Joannis  defunct!  Petri  et  fratrum  suorum  nequiverunt 
habere,  licet  quadraginta  anni  et  amplius  sint  elapsi,  quod  obiit  dictus 
Oddo;  quamvis  etiam  nos  pietate  moti,  pro  bono  pacis  inter  eos 
interposuerimus  solicite  partes  nostras,  ut  unusquisque  de  civitate 
et  castris  suam  portionem  haereditariam  obtineret,  oblationibus 
magnis  factis  nepotibus  dicti  Jacobi  in  avantagium,  ut  hujusmodi 
concordia  proveniret;  considerantes  fore  indignum,  ut  quibus  de  una 
substantia  competit  aequa  successio,  alii  abundanter  affluant,  alii 
paupertatis  incommodis  ingemiscant,  quos  tamen  rationibus,  precibus, 
sive  minis  nequivimus  emollire.  Ipsi  vero  Jacobus  et  Petrus  Car- 
dinales,  a  nostra  praesentia  recedentes  non  facta  hujusmodi  as- 
signatione,  quae  ab  eorum  beneplacito  dependebat,  nunquam  ad  nos 
postea  redierunt. 

Nos  igitur  attendentes  ipsorum  Columnensium  adeo  incaluisse 
duritiem,  adeo  fore  nequitiam  induratam,  quod  non  rationibus  dirigi, 
non  blandimentis  allici,  non  fomentis  reduci,  nee  minis  etiam  in- 
clinari  potuerunt  ab  bonum,  ex  quo  blandimenta  non  potuerant,  nee 
fomenta  valebant;  deliberavimus  apponere  manus  ad  fortia,  et  ferro 
abscindere  vulnera,  quae,  medicamenta  non  senserunt  lenitiva:  ac 
praemissis  et  aliis,  quae  nobis  et  fratribus  nostris  rationabiliter  oc- 
currerunt,  provida  deliberatione  discussis,  providimus  non  solum 
contra  filios  dicti  Joannis,  qui  peccabant  apertius,  verum  etiam 
contra  Jacobum  et  Petrum  praefatos,  ex  quorum  adipe  praedicta 
iniquitas  et  superbia  procedunt,  juste  procedere,  qui  consentiebant 
ipsis  peccantibus,  praestando  fomentum,  f avorem,  praesidium,  et  tuta- 
men;  quia  culpa  non  caret,  et  delicti  efficitur  particeps,  qui  non  pro- 
hibet  delinquentem,  dum  potest:  et  negligere,  cum  quis  potest,  per- 
tubare  perversos,  nihil  aliud  est  quam  favere;  nee  caret  scrupulo 
societatis  occultae,  qui  manifesto  facinori  desinit  obviare. 

Cumque  dictorum  Jacobi  et  Petri  Cardinalatus  et  status  dictae 
ecclesiae,  ejusque  fidelibus  esset  in  scandalum,  eorumque  potestas  non 
in  aedificationem,  sed  in  destructionem ;  ipsique  obessent,  quibus 
prodesse  debebant,  nee  nostram  relevarunt,  per  suam  particularem, 
solicitudinem,  qua  vocati  sumus  a  Deo  in  plenitudinem  potestatis, 
immo  potius  impugnarent;  quantumlibet  venerabilibus  fratribus 
nostris  episcopis,  et  dilectis  filiis  presbyteris  etdiaconibus  S.  R.  E. 
Cardinalibus,  quantum  cum  Deo  possumus,  deferamus,  ipsorumque 
collegium  honoremus,  eorumdem  Jacobi  et  Petri  elegimus  domare 
superbiam  in  robore  virtutis  Altissimi,  arrogantiam  et  praesump- 
tionem  elatam  conterere,  eos  tamquam  oves  morbidas  a  dominico 
ovili  abjicere,  ipsosque,  Tit  culpa  supplicium  timeat,  et  virtus  proem- 
ium  retributionis  expectect,  a  loco  quantumcumque  sublimi  perpetuo 
amovere,  tam  ex  eorum  culpis  et  demeritis  ac  suorum,  quam  ex 
causis  rationabilibus,  quae  nos  movent;  praesertim  explorati  divini 
et  humani  iuris  existat,  unum  pro  altero  interdum  ex  causa  puniri. 

Eorum  ergo  absentiam  Dei  replente  praesentia,  ad  honorem  Dei 
omnipotentis,  B.  Mariae  semper  Virginis,  beatorum  Apostolorum 
Petri  et  Pauli,  et  Romanae  Ecclesiae  saepedictae  praefatos  lacobum 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  493 

S.  Mariae  in  Via  lata  et  Petnrm  S.  Eustachij  diaconos  Cardinales  de 
ipsorum  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio  a  Cardinalatibus  ipsis  sanctae 
Romanae  ecclesiae  et  praedictarum  ecclesiarum  deponimus  etc. 

Excomunicamus  insuper  praedictos  Jacobum  et  Petrum,  et  etiam 
omnes  illos,  qui  de  caetero  scienter  et  deliberate  pro  Cardinalibus 
ipsos  vel  aliquem  eorum  habuerint;  et  assensum  praestiterint,  quod 
pro  Cardinalibus  habeantur,  et  quod  eos  vel  ipsorum  aliquem  in 
electione  Romani  Pontificis  ad  aliquem  actum  ut  Cardinales  admis- 
erint,  vel  vocis  eorum  suffragium,  aut  alicuius  ex.eis.  Omnes  etiam 
et  singulos  cuiuscumque  eminentiae  fuerint,  dignitatis,  ordinis,  con- 
ditionis,  aut  status,  etiam  si  fuerint  S.  R.  E.  Cardinales,  qui  ipsis 
Jacobo  et  Petro,  vel  eorum  alteri  postquam,  quod  absit,  in  haeresim, 
vel  in  schisma,  et  rebellionem  ceciderint,  in  haeresi,  vel  schismate, 
aut  rebellione  stantibus  scienter  et  deliberate  praestiterint  auxilium, 
consilium,  vel  favorem,  publice  vel  occulte,  omni  statu  ecclesiastico, 
Praelatura,  et  honore  privamus;  omnes  civitates,  castra,  terras,  et 
loca,  quae  ipsos  vel  aliquem  eorum  in  haeresim,  schisma,  vel  rebel- 
lionem lapsos  scienter  susceperint,  tenuerint,  ecclesiastico  supponimus 
interdicto,  etc.  Actum  Romae  apud  S.  Petrum  in  publico  consistorio 
nostro  VI.  id.  maji  Pontificatus  nostri  anno  III. 


DOCUMENT  (R). 

THE    COLONNA    LIBEL    AGAINST    BONIFACE. 

TTniversis  praesens  instrumentum  publicum  inspecturis,  cujus- 
cumque  praecellentiae,  dignitatis,  status,  vel  conditionis  existant, 
ecclesiasticae  vel  mundanae,  miseratione  divina  Jacobus  S.  Mariae  in 
Via  lata,  et  Petrus  S.  Eustachii  diaconi  Cardinales  salutem,  etc. 
Respondemus  ad  ultimum  verbum  inter  alia  in  mandate  nobis  facto 
propositum,  si  tamen  mandatum  dici  debeat  quod  volebatis  scire, 
utrum  essetis  Papa,  quod  vos  non  credimus  legitimum  Papam  esse, 
sacroque  coetui  dominorum  Cardinalium  denuntiamus,  suamque  pro- 
visionem  et  remedium  super  hoc  exposcimus,  cum  hoc  expediat  uni- 
versali  ecclesiae  et  fidei  fundamento,  ut  loco  domini  nostri  Jesu 
Christi  et  in  ejus  vices  non  nisi  verus  et  legitimus  vere  et  legitime 
pastor  praesit,  curamque  gregis  sibi  commissi  legitime  gerat: 
ne,  si  (quod  absit)  non  verus  pastor  insurgeret,  seu  etiam  re- 
maneret,  non  levem  jacturam  sed  fundamenti  talis  subversionem 
reciperet  sancta  catholica  et  universalis  ecclesia,  ecclesiasticis  sacra- 
mentis  indigne  (proh  dolor!)  prophanatis,  dum  per  eum  indigne, 
indebite,  et  illegitime  ministrarentur,  qui  potestatem  et  auctoritatem 
ministrandi  legitimam  non  habere:  non  enim  sacramenta  dare  pos- 
sunt,  qui  ea  dandi  potestatem  non  habent;  nee  ministros  create,  qui 
non  sunt.  Frequenter  namque  audivimus  a  plurimis  non  levis  auctor- 
itatis  viris  ecclesiastic!  et  saecularis  status,  et  dignitatis  dubitari 
verosimiliter,  an  renunciatio  facta  per  sanctae  memoriae  dominum 
Coelestinum  Papam  V.  tenuerit  et  legitime  et  canonice  facta  fuerit: 


494  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

cum  verosimiliter  contrarium  videtur  ex  eo,  quod  Papatus  a  solo 
Deo  est:  et  quae  a  Deo  vel  ab  alio  superior!  committuntur,  a  nullo 
possunt  inferior!  removeri.  Et  sic  papalis  potestas,  quae  a  solo  Deo 
committitur,  a  nullo  inferior!  removeri  posse  videtur. 

Item  ex  eo,  quia  nullus  potest  auctoritatem  et  potestatem  aliquam 
spiritualem  auferre,  quam  conferre  non  potest.  Sed  auctoritatem 
papalem  nullus  conferre  potest  nisi  Deus :  ergo  neque  earn  auferre. 
Sed  si  teneret  renunciatio,  auferretur  papalis  potestas.  Ergo  re- 
nunciatio  non  videtur  fieri  posse. 

Item  etiam  decretalis.  Inter  corporalia,  expresse  innuit,  quod  de- 
positio  Episcoporum,  translatio  eorum,  et  absolutio  per  cessionem  soli 
Papae  est  reservata,  nee  etiam  ipsi  conceditur,  nisi  in  quantum  Papa 
quodammodo  Deus  est,  id  est  Dei  vicarius,  ut  patet  ex  textu.  Ergo 
remotio  Papae,  quia  Papatus  omnes  dignitates  excellit,  per  super- 
iorem  Papa  voluit  ipse  Deus  tantummodo  fieri,  id  est  per  semetipsum 
nulla  enim  ratio  capit,  quod  Deus  voluerit  inferiores  dignitates  per 
ipsum  Deum  tantum  aut  per  harum  superiorem  dignitatum  tolli 
posse,  nee  per  ipsum  superiorem  nisi  in  quantum  ipse  superior, 
scilicet  Papa  est  Dei  Vicarius;  et  tamen  voluerit  ipsum  Papatum, 
quae  est  summa  dignitas,  proprie  Christ!  est,  nedum  per  inferiorem 
Deo,  sed  etiam  per  inferiorem  seipsa  dignitate  tolli  posse:  et  sic 
solus  Deus  videtur  tollere  posse  Papatum,  et  nullus  alter,  sicut 
multipliciter  videtur  colligi  ex  textu  praedictae  decretalis. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  summa  virtus  creata  per  nullam  virtutem  creatam 
videtur  posse  tolli.  Sed  Papatus  est  summa  potestas  in  creatura. 
Ergo  per  nullam  virtutem  creatam  tolli  posse  videtur. 

Iterum  ex  eo,  quod  nee  Papa,  nee  tota  creaturarum  universitas 
potest  facere,  quod  aliquis  Pontifex  non  sit  Pontifex.  Ergo  multo 
magis  non  videtur  posse  facere,  quod  summus  Pontifex  non  sit  sum- 
mus  Pontifex.  Nam  minus  est  tollere  simpliciter  Pontificem,  quam 
summum  Pontificem.  Ergo  cum  simpliciter  Pontificem  nullus  possit 
tollere  nisi  Deus,  nee  summum  Pontificem  videtur  aliquis  posse 
tollere  nisi  Deus  quod  fieret,  si  renuntiare  posset  ita,  quod  valeret. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  Papa  non  est  Papa  nisi  per  legem  divinam,  et 
non  per  legem  alicujus  creaturae,  nee  omnium  creaturarum  simul. 
Ergo  nullo  modo  videtur,  quod  Papa  possit  eximi,  quin  sit  Papa :  nee 
enim  ex  quo  consensit  et  subjecit  se  legi  sponsae  potest  esse  non 
Papa  per  aliquam  creaturam  neque  per  omnes  simul,  ut  videtur. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  nullus  potest  tollere  votum  alicujus  seu  ab  ipso 
absolvere  nisi  ille,  qui  est  supra  votum.  Sed  papatus  est  quoddam 
votum  maximum  super  omnia  vota;  nam  vovet  Papa  de  facto  ipsi 
Deo,  quod  curam  habebit  universaliter  gregis  sui  totius,  scilicet 
universalis  secclesiae;  et  quod  de  ipsis  reddet  rationem.  Ergo  ab 
isto  voto  solus  eum  Deus  absolvere  posse  videtur.  Ergo  de  Papa  nul- 
lus videtur  posse  fieri  non  Papa,  nisi  omnino  a  solo  Deo  aliqua  ra- 
tione:  nullus  enim  alicui  obligatus  potest  ab  obligatione  seipsum  ab- 
solvere, qua  tenetur  obnoxious,  maxime  superiore  obligatus.  Sed 
Papa  nullum  habet  superiorem  nisi  Deum,  et  per  Papatum  se  Deo 
obligavit.  Ergo  a  nullo  posse  videtur  absolvi  nisi  a  Deo. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  495 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  nullus  videtur  se  ipsum  absolvere  posse.  Sed  si 
valeret  renuntiatio,  videtur  quod  seipsum  posset  absolvere. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  papalis  obligate  non  videtur  posse  tolli  nisi  per 
majorem  potestatem,  quam  papalis  sit.  Sed  nulla  potentia  creata 
est  major  quam  papalis.  Ergo  fieri  non  potest  per  Papam  nee  per 
aliquid  aliud  nisi  per  Deum  ut  qui  semel  est  Papa,  non  sit  semper 
Papa,  dum  vivit,  ut  videtur.  Item  ex  eo  quod  nulla  dignitas  eccles- 
iastica  post  legitimam  confirmationem  potest  tolli  nisi  per  ejus  su- 
per iorem.  Sed  Papa  solus  Deus  est  major.  Ergo  a  solo  Deo  tolli 
posse  videtur. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  Apostolus  vult  et  probat  sacerdotium  Christi  esse 
aeternum;  et  ad  vivere  in  aeternum  in  sacerdotio,  sequitur  ipsum  esse 
sacerdotem  in  aeternum.  Ergo  nullo  modo  potest  esse  vita  summi 
Pontificis  et  summi  sacerdotis  sine  summo  sacerdotio.  Ergo  re- 
nuntiare  non  potest,  ut  videtur.  Et  nimis  extraneum  et  a  ratione 
remotum  apparet,  quod  summus  Pontifex,  qui  est  verus  successor  et 
vicarius  Jesu  Christi,  qui  est  sacerdos  in  aeternum  possit  absolvi 
ab  alio  quam  ab  ipso  Deo;  et  quod  quandiu  vixerit  non  maneat  sum- 
mus Pontifex:  et  quod  aliquo  modo  possit  esse  vita  summi  sacerdotis 
sine  summo  sacerdotio,  ut  videtur. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  si  diceretur,  quod  vita  summi  sacerdotis  esset  sine 
summo  sacerdotio,  argumentum  Apostoli,  ubi  dicit;  Secundum  legem 
Mosaicam  plures  facti  sunt  sacerdotes;  penitus  nullum  vide^etur  esse, 
sed  falsitatem  contineret;  nam  posset  argui  contra  ipsum,  quia 
Christus  sempiternum  habet  sacerdotium.  Respondet  Apostolus: 
Eo  quod  manet  in  aeternum;  dico  tibi,  beate  Apostole,  non  est  verum, 
quia  potest  in  vita  sua  renuntiare,  et  non  erit  sacerdos  amplius.  Ex 
hac  positione  quod  Papa  renuntiare  posset  totius  Scripturae  sacrae  et 
verbi  Apostoli  falsitas  sequi  videretur:  et  ex  multis  aliis  rationabili- 
bus  et  evidentibus  causis  hoc  ipsum  videtur  verisimile  et  iustissime 
in  dubitationem  deduci. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  in  renuntiatione  ipsius  multae  fraudes  et  doli, 
conditiones  et  intendimenta  et  machinamenta,  et  tales  et  talia  in- 
tervenisse  multipliciter  offerentur,  quod  esto,  quod  posset  fieri  re- 
nunciatio,  de  quo  merito  dubitatur,  ipsam  vitiarent  et  redderent  il- 
legitimam,  inefficacem,  et  nullam. 

Item  ex  eo,  quod  esto  quod  renunciatio  tenuisset  (quod  nullo  modo 
asseritur,  neque  creditur)  plura  postea  intervenerunt  quae  electionem 
postmodum  subsecutam  nullam  et  inefficacem  reddiderunt  omnino: 
ex  quo  vos,  qui  principaliter  tangimini,  merito  dubitatis,  et  in 
quaestionem  deducitis  dicendo,  vos  velle  scire,  utrum  sitis  Papa, 
prout  in  mandato  per  vos  facto,  si  mandatum  dici  debet,  per  magis- 
trum  Joannem  de  Penestre  clericum  camerae  continebatur  expresse, 
demodo  nos,  qui  ex  vera  fide  asserimus  et  illuminata  conscientia 
firmiter  credimus,  vos  non  Papam,  tuta  conscientia  silere  non  pos- 
sumus,  quin  in  tanto  negotio,  quod  sic  universalem  medullitus  tangit 
ecclesiam,  veritas  declaretur.  Propter  quod  petimus  instanter  et 
humiliter  generale  Concilium  congregari,  ut  in  eodem  de  his  omnibus 
veritas  declaretur,  omnisque  error  abscedat.  Et  si  quidem  universale 


496  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS, 

Concilium,  auditis  et  pensatis  supradictis  et  aliis  negotium  con- 
tingentibus,  declaraverit  renunciationem  legitime  et  canonice  pro- 
cessisse,  et  electionem  legitime  et  canonice  postea  subsecutam;  eidem 
declaration!,  cui  stare  et  parere  nos  offerimus,  a  nobis  et  ab  aliis 
humiliter  deferatur  et  pareatur  omnino.  Si  vero  vel  renuntiationem 
non  legitime  nee  canonice  processisse,  vel  electionem  minus  legitime 
et  canonice  subsecutam,  dicti  concilii  declaratione  aut  deliberatione 
claruerit,  cedat  error,  et  de  vero  sponso  provideatur  legitime  et 
canonice  universal!  ecclesiae  sponsae  Christi,  etc.  Sub  anno  Domini 
MCCXCVII  indictione  X.  die  veneris,  X.  mensis  maji. 


DOCUMENT   (S). 

SENTENCE  OF  BONIFACE  AGAINST  THE  COLONNAS. 

Bonifacius,  et  ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam. 

Lapis  abscissus  de  monte  sine  manibus,  ab  aedificantibus  repro- 
batus,  et  factus  in  caput  anguli,  duos  et  diversos  parietes  copulans, 
pastores  a  Judaea,  et  magos  ab  oriente  producens,  in  se  reconcilians 
ima  summis,  et  ordinans  in  sancta  Romana  apostolica  et  catholica 
ecclesia  charitatem,  ipsam  sponsam  suam  statuit  esse  unam,  sicut 
scriptum  est:  Una  est  columba  mea  electa  mea,  perfecta  mea:  una 
est  matris  suae,  electa  genitricis  suae;  per  inconsutilem  tunicam 
Domini  designatam,  desuper  contextam  per  totum.  Hanc  diviserunt 
milites,  sed  sortiti  sunt  earn.  Hanc  impugnaverunt  haeretici  et 
schismatici,  ac  blasphemi  a  juventute  sua :  sed  non  praevaluerunt  ad- 
versus  earn  divina  virtute  protectam,  et  ut  castrorum  acies  ordin- 
atam.  Sed  nondum  haereticis,  schismaticis,  ac  blasphemis  adeo  est 
finis  impositus,  quin  velut  viperei  filii,  natique  degeneres  in  senectute 
positum,  ejus  sabbatum  perturbare,  et  unitatem  scindere  moliantur. 
De  quorum  numero  fore  noscuntur  Jacobus  de  Columna  et  Petrus 
nepos  eius,  quondam  dictae  ecclesiae  Cardinales,  quos,  eorum  culpis 
et  demeritis  exigentibus  ac  suorum,  pridem  VI.  idus  maii  Pontificatus 
nostri  anno  III.  ex  rationabilibus  causis  moti,  de  fratrum  nostrorum 
concilio  Cardinalatu  privavimus  perpetuo,  et  deposuimus  ab  eisdem, 
variis  processibus  et  sententiis,  comminationes  et  poenas  continenti- 
bus,  contra  ipsos  habitis;  nee  non  et  contra  natos  quondam  Joannis 
de  Columna  fratris  dicti  Jacobi  et  patris  Petri  praefati,  ac  contro 
omnes,  qui  per  masculinam  et  foemininam  lineam  descenderunt  b.ac- 
tenus,  et  descendunt  ab  ipso  Joanne. 

Ipsi  namque  Jacobus  et  Petrus  intraverunt  ecclesiam  sub  pelle 
ovina,  operibus  tamen  et  fructibus  se  exhibuerunt  quasi  lupos  ra- 
paces;  et  graves,  non  parcentes  gregi  dominico,  et  in  reprobum  sen- 
sum  dati,  et  oculis  excaecati  malitia,  ita  ut  lumen  coeli  non  viderent, 
nee  videant;  descendentes  in  malorum  profundum,  et  contemnentes, 
exurrexerunt  loqui  perversa :  et  acuentes  ut  gladium  linguas  suas,  in 
blasphema  verba,  et  schismatica  proruperunt,  aperte  monstrantes 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  497 

quod  licet  ex  nobis  prodierint,  tamen  non  erant  ex  nobis:  nam  si  ex 
nobis  fuissent,  utique  permansissent  nobiscum.  Quibus  verbis  re- 
dactis  in  scriptis,  ipsa  scripta  in  divcrsarum  ecclesiarum  Urbis  ostiis 
affigi,  et  super  Basilicae  principis  Apostolorum  de  IJrbe  altari  poni 
fecerunt :  quae  quidem  scripta  eorum  ab  olim  praecogitatam  et  prae- 
conceptam  nequitiam  patenter  indicant,  ipsosque  Jacobum  atque 
Petrum  blasphemes  atque  schismaticos  fore  manifeste  declarant, 
sanctae  Dei  ecclesiae  Romanae  catholicae  et  apostolicae  molientes 
scindere  unitatem,  et  Columnam  Dei  viventis  pene  adnutationem 
deducere,  ac  sagenam  summi  Piscatoris  procellis  intumescentibus  ad 
naufragii  profunda  submergere,  si,  quod  absit,  eis  facultas  adesset. 
In  hujusmodi  namque  scriptis,  quae  universis  eadem  inspecturis 
cujuscumque  praeeminentiae,  dignitatis,  status,  vel  conditionis  ex- 
istant,  ecclesiasticae  vel  mundanae,  a  Jacobo  et  Petro  praedictis 
mittuntur  sub  modo  scribendi,  quo  ante  depositionem  suam  uti  sole- 
bant,  et  sub  sigillis,  quibus  antea  utebantur;  inter  caetera  continen- 
tur,  nos  divina  providentia  ad  summi  apostolatus  apicem  secundum 
scita  canonum,  licet  immeritos,  evocatos,  et  non  solum  ab  omnibus 
fratribus  nostris  et  ab  ipsis  praevia  electione  canonica,  immo  ab 
Ecclesia  universal!  receptos  in  Papam,  consecrates,  eis  assistentibus, 
secundum  approbatum  morem  Romanae  ecclesiae,  et  etiam  coronatos, 
Papam  non  esse;  haec  et  alia  confingentes,  quae  non  solum  sunt  blas- 
phesma  et  schismatica,  sed  insana,  prout  eorum  scripta  indicant  man- 
ifeste. 

Post  depositionem  etiam  et  privationem  processus  et  sententias 
supradictos,  Cardinales  se  nominant,  et  Cardinalitia  portant  insignia, 
annulis  et  rubeis  capellis  utentes,  et  Cardinalitos  actus  exercent,  sicut 
antequam  per  nos  de  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio  essent  deposit! 
faciebant  et  hactenus  utebantur:  ut  illud  taceamus  ad  praesens,  quod 
fere  per  triennium  obedientiam  nobis  et  reverentiam  exhibuerunt  ut 
Papae,  participantes  una  nobiscum,  reverentiam  exhibuerunt  ut 
Papae,  participantes  una  nobiscum  reverendum  dominici  Corporis  et 
Sanguinis  sacramentum,  ac  ministrantes  nobis  in  missarum  solemniis 
et  divinis,  prout  ab  antiquo  solent  Cardinales  saepedictae  Romanae 
ecclesiae  Romanis  Pontificibus  ministrare;  in  ecclesiarum  provision- 
ibus  et  diffinitionibus  per  nos  factis  consilia  sua  dantes,  et  se  in 
concessis  a  nobis  privilegiis  subscribentes,  alia  faciebant  nobiscum 
et  recipiebant  nobiscum  et  recipiebant  a  nobis,  quae  cum  homine  et 
ab  homine  cujus  non  habuissent  ingressum  canonicum,  nee  fieri  nee 
recipi  debuissent.  Nee  possent  supradicta  metu  proponere  se  fecisse, 
qui  nos  in  scrutinio,  more  memorate  ecclesiae  Cardinalium,  elegerent 
et  nominaverant  eligendum  in  Papam  quando  de  nobis,  timendum  non 
erat :  et  post  electionem,  receptionem,  consecrationem,  et  coronationem 
praemissas  factas  de  nobis,  in  castro  tune  ipsorum,  quod  Zagarolum 
dicitur,  et  quod  perdictum  Jacobum  tune  temporis  tenebatur,  cum 
pluribus  ex  fratribus  nostris  hopitati  fuerimus  confidenter,  et  ipsi 
ac  sui  tune  ibidem  exhibuerunt  nobis  papalem  reverentiam  et  hon- 
orem,  ubi  nulla  aderat  eis  causa  timoris. 

Nos  igitur  super  his  et  aliis,  quae  hujusmodi  negotium  contingunt, 


498  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

vel  contingere  possunt,  habita  cum  dictis  fratribus  nostris  deliber- 
atione  matura,  omnes  processus,  omnesque  sententias,  comminationes, 
et  poenas;  et  specialiter  dictam  sententiam  depositionis  et  privationis 
Cardinalituum,  et  cuncta  alia  quae  in  nostris  super  hoc  confectis 
literis  continentur,  de  eorumdem  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio  rata 
habentes  et  grata;  confirmamus,  ratificamus,  et  approbamus,  et  etiam 
innovamus;  et  propter  adauctam  eorum  contumaciam,  schisma,  atque 
blasphemiam,  de  dictorum  fratrum  consilio  ipsos  Jacobum  et  Pe- 
trum  sententiando  pronuntiamus  esse  schismaticos,  et  blasphemes, 
et  excommunicationis  sententia  innodamus;  ipsosque,  in  hujusmodi 
blasphemia  et  schismate  perdurantes,  tamquam  haereticos  puniendos; 
et  tarn  dictam  depositionis  et  privationis  cardinalatuum  sententiam, 
quam  omnia,  quae  contra  ipsos  et  alios  fecimus,  et  pronuntiavimus, 
de  novo  facimus,  sententiamus,  atque  proferimus,  et  robur  habere 
decernimus  perpetuae  firmitatis.  Omnibus  insuper  canonicatibus 
praebendi,  dignitatibus,  personatibus,  officiis,  et  beneficiis  cum  cura 
vel  sine  cura;  pensionibus,  ecclesiasticis  reditibus  seu  proventibus, 
quae  praedicti  Jacobus  et  Petrus,  et  unusquisque  eorum  habebant, 
tenebant,  et  possidebant  in  quibuscumque  seu  a  quibuscumque  ec- 
clesiis,  monasteriis  hospitalibus  religiosis  et  saecularibus  vel  speciali- 
bus  personis,  cujuscumque  eminentiae,  conditonis,  ordinis,  dignitatis, 
et  status,  ecclesiastici  vel  mundani;  ipsos  omnino  privamus,  ipsaque 
collationi  sedis  Apostolicae  reservamus ;  decernentes  irritum,  et  inane, 
si  secus  a  quoquam  super  iis  scienter  vel  ignoranter  contigerit  at- 
tentari. 

Eosdem  quoque  Jacobum  et  Petrum,  quondam  Cardinales;  Joan- 
Tiem  dictum  de  sancto  Vito,  et  Oddonem  filios  quondam  Joannis  de 
Columna  fratris  dicti  Jacobi,  et  patris  Petri  praefati  omnibus  iuri- 
bus,  et  bonis  mobilibus  et  immobilibus  ecclesiasticis;  et  tarn  ipsos 
quam  Agapitum,  Stephanum,  et  Jacobum  dictum  Sciarram,  filios 
Joannis  de  Columna  praedicti,  et  alios  filios  ejusdem  Joannis,  si 
qui  alii  sunt  filii  eorumdem  vel  alicuius  eorum,  omnibus  iuribus,  et 
bonis,  et  rebus  mobilibus  et  immobilibus,  hereditariis  seu  quomodoli- 
bet  acquisitis,  quibuscumque  ratione,  causa,  vel  titulo  ad  eos  vel  ip- 
sorum  aliquem  seu  aliquos  pervenerint,  seu  obvenerint,  obvenire  vel 
pervenire  possent;  nee  non  communitatibus,  baroniis,  comitatibus, 
civitatibus,  sive  castris,  ubicumque  ilia  habeant,  teneant,  vel  ob- 
tineant,  vel  quomodolibet  ad  ipsos  pertineant,  privamus  omnino  il- 
laque  omnia  et  singula  publicamus,  et  etiam  confiscamus;  ita  quod 
ad  ipsos  vel  eorum  aliquem,  heredes  ipsorum  vel  alicuius  eorum  nullo 
umquam  tempore  revertantur,  eosque  ac  unumquemque  ipsorum 
active  et  passive  intestabiles  reddimus;  ita  quod  eis  et  eorum  uni- 
cuique  ex  testamento,  vel  quavis  ultima  voluntate,  seu  ab  intestate 
nullus  succedere  possit,  nee  ipsi,  aut  eorum  aliquis  ex  testamento 
seu  ultima  voluntate,  vel  ab  intestate  succedere,  aut  aliquod  capere 
possint;  nihilque  eis,  et  eorum  alicui  ratione  legati,  institutionis,  aut 
substitutionis,  seu  quovis  titulo  valeat  quomodolibet  obvenire:  eosque 
pronuntiamus  infames,  et  legitimis  actibus  prorsus  indignos;  stat- 
uentes  quod  nulli  eorum  portae  alicuius  pateant  dignitatis  eccles- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  499 

iasticae  vel  mundanae,  et  si  secus  fieret,  nullum  robur  habere,  ipsisque 
civilitatem  et  incolatum  et  habitatione  Urbis,  circumpositae  regionis, 
et  quorumvis  civitatum,  castrorum,  terrarum  atque  locorum  dictate 
ecclesiae  subiectorum  prorsus  interdicimus :  eosque  omnes  et  singulos 
ab  Urbe,  eiusque  territorio  et  districtu,  et  ab  omnibus  civitatibus, 
castris,  terris  seu  locis  subiectis  eidem  Romanae  ecclesiae  forbanni- 
mus:  ipsosque  Agapitum,  Stephanum,  Jacobum  dictum  Scirram, 
Joannem  de  Sancto  Vito,  et  Oddonem  excommunicationis  sententia 
innodamus;  statuentes  firmiter,  et  mandantes,  ut  nullus  dictos  Jaco- 
bum et  Petrum,  et  praefatos  Agapitum,  Stephanum,  Jacobum  dictum 
Sciarram,  Jonnanem,  et  Oddonem  fratres,  eos  vel  eorum  aliquem  aut 
aliquos  recipiat  vel  receptat;  nullusque  eis  aut  ipsorum  alicui,  vel 
aliquibus  praestet  auxilium,  consilium  vel  favorem;  eos,  qui  secus 
fecerint,  excommunicationis  sententia  innodantes.  Praecipimus 
etiam  sub  excommunicationis  sententia,  quam  contrarium  facientes 
incurrere  volumus  ipso  facto,  ut  nullus  ab  ipsis  Jacobo  et  Petro,  et 
praedictis  fratribus,  vel  eorum  altero,  in  schismate  vel  rebellione 
huiusmodi  existentibus,  nuntium  vel  literas  recipiat,  aut  mittat  ad 
eos  vel  ad  alterum  eorumdem. 

Reddimus  quoque  praedictos  Jacobum  et  Petrum,  Agapitum, 
Stephanum,  et  Jacobum  dictum  Sciarram,  Joannem  de  S.  Vito  et 
Oddonem,  et  alios  si  qui  sunt  filii  dicti  Joannis  de  Columna,  et 
filios  eorumdem  inhabiles  ad  honorem  seu  regimen,  vel  officium  pub- 
licum,  ecclesiasticum  vel  mundanum,  quaelibet  et  quocumque  nomine 
censeantur,  per  se,  v^el  alium,  aut  alios  quomodolibet  exercenda;  ita 
quod  nee  ad  ilia  vocari,  eligi,  vel  assumi  valeant,  vel  ad  aliquod  eor- 
umdem; nee  ipsi,  vel  aliquis  eorum,  seu  aliqui  ea  valeant  exercere; 
et  si  secus  factum  fuerit,  illud  decemimus  irritum  et  inane.  Si  qui 
vero  ex  eis,  vel  ipsorum  aliquis,  vel  quivis  per  eas,  vel  pro  eis, 
vel  ipsorum  aliquem,  vel  aliquos  in  protestatariae,  capitaniae, 
consulatus  regimine,  vel  quovis  officio  publico  hactenus,  ubi- 
cumque  positi,  electi,  assumpti  fuerint,  vel  recepti;  praesertim  quor- 
umcumque  provinciae,  civitatum,  castrorum,  terrarum,  atque  locorum 
memoratae  ecclesiae  subiectorum;  illos  ab  eis  penitus  amovemus, 
executionibus  ipsis  penitus  interdictis,  eosque  praecipimus  nullatenus 
reassumi ;  et  si  secus  factum  fuerit,  illud  decemimus  nullius  existere 
firmitatis. 

Civitatis  vero,  castra,  seu  loca,  quae  scienter  dictos  Jacobum  et 
Petrum,  et  praedictos  fratres  receperint,  receptaverint,  sive  tenuerint, 
autin  quibus  publice  moram  contraxerint,  quandiu  ipsi  vel  alter 
eorum  inibi  morabuntur,  ecclesiastico  supponimus  interdicto:  et  per- 
sonas  ipsorum  Jacobi,  et  Petri,  et  fratrum  capiendas  exponimus 
quibuscumque  fidelibus,  detinendas  et  custodiendas  diligenter, 
quousque  per  dictem  sedem  aliud  fuerit  ordinatum,  etc.  Actum 
Romae  in  Basilica  supradicta,  (nimirum  S.  Petri)  in  die  Ascensionia 
Domini,  pontificatus  nostri  anno  III. 


500  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


DOCUMENT  (T). 

BRIEF  OF  BONIFACE  ENTRUSTING  THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE  WAR  AGAINST  THE 
COLONNAS,    TO    LANDOLPH    COLONNA. 

Bonifacius  etc.  Dilecto  filio  nobili  viro  Landulpho  de  Columna  civi 
romano  salutem,  et  apostolicam  benedictionem.  Ut  depressio,  et 
confusio  Columnen,  Schismaticorum,  et  Ecclesiae  Romanae  Rebel- 
Hum  eo  celerius,  et  facilius  execution!  mandetur,  quoad  id  plurium 
proborum  virorum  fuerit  ministerium  deputatum.  Nos  de  tuae 
nobilitatis  industria  plenarie  confidentes,  volumus,  et  praesentium  tibi 
auctoritate  committimus,  ut  una  cum  nobili  viro..  .  Capitaneo  mili- 
tum  Talliae  Tusciae  adversus  scismaticos,  et  rebelles  praedictos,  et 
adjutores,  et  fautores  eorum  ad  captiones  eastrorum,  terrarum,  loco- 
rum,  et  bonorum,  ac  etiam  personarum  ipsorum,  destructionem 
quoque,  et  devastationem  domorum,  vinearum,  et  arborum  eorumdem, 
et  alias  in  omnibus,  et  per  omnia,  quae  in  hac  parte,  ad  honorem,  et 
exaltationem  Ecclesiae  Romanae  videris  expedite,  procedeas  viriliter, 
et  potenter,  et  nomine  nostro,  et  ejusdem  Ecclesiae,  Castra,  terras, 
loca,  et  Personas  ipsorum,  quae  capi  contigerit,  custodias  et  con- 
serves, seu  custodiri,  et  conservari  facias,  et  procures  ad  nostrum 
beneplacitum  disponenda. 

Dat.  apud  Urbem  Veterem  secundo  nonas  Septembris  Pontificatus 
nostri  anno  tertio. 


DOCUMENT  (U). 

REPLY  OF  BONIFACE  TO  THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE. 

Bonifacius  etc.  dilectis  filiis  nobili  viro  Pandulpho  de  Sabello 
Senatori,  et  Populo  Urbis  salutem,  et  apostolicam  benedictionem. 
Romanum  Populum  peculiares,  et  praedilectos  filios  praecipua  cari- 
tate  constringimus,  et  specialiori  prosequimur  prerogativa  favoris. 
Sane  dilectos  filios  Ambasciatores  vestros  ex  parte  vestra  solemniter 
in  quantitate  non  modica  nuper  ad  nostram  praesentiam  accedentes 
paterna  benignitate  recepimus,  et  quae  tarn  verbo,  quam  scriptura 
nobis  exponere  voluerunt  attendimus  diligente,  ipsi  namcue  coram 
nobis,  et  Fratribus  nostris  tarn  oretemus,  quam  in  scriptis  ex 
parte  vestra  proponere  curaverunt,  quod  iidem  Ambasciatores  de 
mandato  tuo,  Senator,  et  ex  deliberatione  Consilii  generalis,  et 
specialis,  et  quamplurium  aliorum  proborum  virorum  in  ipso  con- 
gregatorum,  et  parlamenti  more  solito  publice  congregati  ad  Colup- 
nenses  tarn  clericos,  quam  laicos  scismaticos,  nostros  et  Ecclesiae  Ro- 
manae rebelles,  et  hostes  nuperrime  accesserunt,  et  ex  parte  vestra, 
Senator  et  Popule,  praedictis  suaserunt  Clericis  et  induxerunt  eos- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  501 

dem,  et  praefatis  Laicis  mandarunt,  quod  ad  pedes  nostros  reverenter 
venirent  nostra,  et  ipsius  Rumanae  Ecclesiae  absolute,  ac  libere  man- 
data  facturi;  ad  quae  praefati  scismatici,  et  rebelles  ipsis  ambasciato- 
ribus  responderunt,  quod  ipsi  parati  erant;  et  offerebant  se  ventures 
ad  pedes  nostros,  ac  nostra,  et  praefatae  Ecclesiae  mandata  facturos; 
qua  responsione  a  praedictis  Columpnensibus  Ambasciatores  ipsi 
audita,  redeuntes  ad  Urbem  ipsaque  relata  a  te  Senatore,  sicut  ex 
dicti  consilii,  et  nostra  popule  ut  asserebant  ordinatione  concesserat 
(sic")  suscepere  mandatum  quod  iidem  Ambasciatores  ad  praesentiam 
nostram  accederent,  ac  nobis  ex  parte  vestra,  Senator  et  Popule, 
supplicarent,  ut  intuitu  Dei,  et  consideratione  vestra  dignaremur 
praefatos  Columpnenses,  ut  praemittitur  venientes  benigne  recipere, 
ac  misericorditer  pertractare.  Nos  igitur  illius  vices  gerentes  qui 
mortem  non  fecit,  nee  delectatur  in  perditionem  vivorum,  et  filios 
abeuntes  in  devium  regionis  dissimilitudinis  (sic)  humiliter  rever- 
tentes,  suaque  recognoscentes  peccata  ad  poenitentiam  libenter  ad- 
mittit,  praefatis  scismaticis,  hostibus,  atque  rebellibus  si  suas  recog- 
noscentes culpas,  et  scelera  humili  spiritu,  et  contrito  ad  nostra,  et 
prefatae  Ecclesiae  mandata  pure,  absolute,  absque  intendimento  ali- 
quo,  alte,  basse,  ac  ad  pedes  nostros  reverenter,  et  personaliter  absque 
morae  dispendio  venire  curaverint,  et  tarn  Personas  suas,  quam  Civi- 
tatem,  Arces,  et  Castra,  quae  detinent,  detinentur  pro  eis,  in  manibus, 
et  posse  nostris,  ac  eorum,  quibus  mandabimus,  posuerint  cum  effectu, 
gremium  non  claudemus  quin  eos  taliter  redeuntes,  sic  misericorditer 
et  benigne  tractemus,  quod  sit  gratum  Deo,  honorabile  nobis,  et  ipsi 
Ecclesiae,  et  ex  nostris,  et  ipsius  Ecclesiae  actibus  exemplum  laudabile 
posteris  relinquamus.  Nee  volumus  vos  latere,  quod  per  verda  dila- 
tionis  deduci  nolentes,  non  intendimus  abstinere,  quin  interim  contra 
eos,  ac  sequaces,  et  fautores  ipsorum,  et  terras  quae  pro  ipsis  tenentur, 
temporaliter,  et  spiritualiter  procedatur.  Caeterum  gratanter  audivi- 
mus,  et  quod  nobis  per  ambasciatores  supplicastis  eosdem  ut  ad 
Urbem,  moraturi  in  ea,  in  istanti  hiemali  tempore,  veniremus:  super 
quo  tenere  nos  volumus,  quod  alia  caetera  loca  preter  illud  ubi  nostri 
sedes  apostolatus  existit  minus  gratanter  incolimus;  nam  sicut  jam 
vera  presagia  manifestant  nedum  vivi,  sed  etiam  post  praesentis  vitae 
decursum  cupimus  in  urbe  ipsa  quiescere,  constructa  jam  in  basilica 
Principis  Apostolorum  de  Urbe  specali  cappella  ubi  nostram  elegimus 
sepulturam;  sed  adhuc  de  veniendo,  vel  non  veniendo  ad  praesens  am- 
basciatoribus  ipsis  responsum  certum  non  dedimus,  sed  ex  causa  in 
suspense  tenemus,  ut  videre  possimus  qualiter  praedicta  procedant,  et 

d am  quam  ad  nos  gessistis,  et  geritis  effectivis  valeamus  operibus 

experiri. 

Datum  apud  Urbem  Veterem  tertio  Kalen  Octobris  pontificatus 
nostri  anno  tertio. 


502  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


DOCUMENT  (V). 

TWO  SERMONS  OF  BONIFACE  VIII,  DELIVERED  AT  ORVIETO,  IN  PRESENCE  OF 
THE  CARDINALS,  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  CANONIZATION  OF  LOUIS 
IX,  KING  OF  FRANCE. 

"Reddite  quae  sunt  Caesaris  Caesari,  et  quae  sunt  Dei  Deo." 
Mat.  XXII.  c.  Notandum  quod  reddit  Dens,  et  reddit  homo.  Deus 
reddit  bonis  bona,  malis  supplicia,  utrisque  iusta.  De  mails  in 
Psalmo  dicitur :  "  Reddet  retributionem  superbus,"  De  bonis  etiam 
in  Psalmo :  "  Redde  mihi  laetitiam  salutaris  tui ;  "  id  est,  gloriam 
aeternam,  quae  est  laetitia  sempiterna.  De  utrisque  dicit  Apostolus 
II.  Cor.  5.  "  Omnes  nos  manifestari  oportet  ante  tribunal  Christi, 
ut  recipiat  unusquisque  propria  corporis  prout  gessit,  sive  bonum, 
sive  malum." 

Item  reddit  homo  Deo,  reddit  proximo.  Primo  debet  reddere 
Deo,  ilia  quae  vovit.  TJnde  in  Psalmo :  "  Vovete  et  reddite  Domino 
Deo  vestro,  etc."  Hoc  intelligitur  tarn  de  voto  tacito,  quam  ex- 
presso.  De  voto  tacito,  sicut  de  illis,  quae  in  baptismo,  licet  tacite, 
promittuntur.  De  expresso  dicitur  Lucae  XVI.  "Redde  rationem 
villicationis  tuae."  Hoc  specialiter  dicitur  de  illis,  qui  ex  voto  seu 
promisso  expresso  obligati  sunt  Deo  specialiter  servire.  Secundo  red- 
dit homo  proximo  caritatem  et  concordiam.  Unde  Apostolus  Rom. 
XIII.  "  Nemini  cuiquam  debeatis,  nisi  ut  invicem  diligatis."  Istud 
vero  debitum  est,  quod  quantumcunque,  et  quotienscumque  redditum, 
semper  nihilominus  honiinem  detinet  debitorem. 

Ista  vero  verba  primo  proposita  accipi  possunt  in  persona  summi 
Pontificis,  et  totius  Ecclesiae  miliantis,  ut  dicatur  eis  pro  santae 
memoriae  Rege  Ludovico,  "  Reddite  quae  sunt  Caesaris  Caesari,  etc." 
Ut  per  Caesarem  intelligamus  istum  sanctum  Regem,  cui  honor 
merito  debetur.  Unde  concluditur  Rom.  XIII.  "  Reddite  ergo  om- 
nibus debita;  cui  tributum,  tributum;  cui  vectigal,  vectigal;  cui 
timorem,  timorem;  cui  honorem,  honorem."  Et  ita  debemus  reddere 
unicuique  quod  suum  est,  tarn  Deo  quam  homini,  et  maxime  illi 
sancto  Regi  de  quo  agitur.  Reddendo  enim  honorem  homini,  red- 
ditur  etiam  Deo,  qui  est  laudabilis  in  Sanctis  suis.  Unde  in  Psalmo, 
"  Mirabilis  Deus  in  Sanctis  suis  etc."  Item  ibidem,  "  Laudate  Dom- 
inum  in  sanctis  ejus  etc."  Accedamus  ergo  ad  propositum  negotium 
venerandum,  honorandum,  et  desiderandum,  quod  jam  per  XXIIII. 
annos  vel  amplius  stetit  in  fornace  examinis  Curiae  Romanae,  sue 
sedis  Apostolicae.  Unde  notandum,  quod  multi  vestrum  viderunt, 
et  nos  etiam  vidimus  sanctum  ilium  Regem  Ludovicum,  cuis 
vita  inclyta  cunctas  illustrabat  Ecclesias.  Et  sicut  nos  in  parte 
vidimus,  et  per  probata  audivimus,  e  scimus,  vita  eius  non  fuit 
salum  vita  hominis  sed  super  hominem;  non  fuit  interrupta; 
sed  ab  infantia  continuata,  de  bono  in  melius  semper  procedens, 
semper  augmentata.  Secundum  id  quod  dicitur  im  Psalmo.  "  Ibunt 
sancti  de  virtute  in  virtutem,  videbitur  Deus  Deorum  in  Sion."  Ipse 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  503 

enim  sic  procedens,  jam  de  regno  terreno  Franciae  ascendit  ad  regnum 
aeternum  gloriae,  ut  possit  dicere  illud  Psalmi :  "  Ego  enim  consti- 
tutus  sum  Rex  ab  eo  super  Sion  montem  sanctum  ejus,  etc."  Et  quia 
dicitur  in  Proverb.  "  Justorum  semita  quasi  lux  splendens  procedit, 
et  crescit  usque  in  perf ectum  diem :  "  Idcirco  non  est  passus  Dominus, 
ut  lucema  isto  poneretur  sub  modio;  sed  super  candelabrum,  ut 
luceret  his  qui  in  domo  Dei  sunt.  TJnde  voluit  Dominus  manifestare 
hominibus  qualis  iste  Sanctus  erat,  et  est  coram  eo;  et  hoc  tarn  per 
testimonium  Dei,  quam  hominum. 

Testimonium  enim  hominum  requiritur  ibi  sicut  testimonium  verit- 
atis,  quantum  ad  certitudinem  vitae  suae  sanctae,  quam  in  hoc  mundo 
gessit.  Vita  vero  ejus  sancta  omnibus  fuit  manifesta,  faciem  ejus 
aspicientibus,  quae  plena  erat  gratiarum,  sicut  dicitur  Hester  XV. 
Quantum  vero  ad  opera,  fuit  manifesta  specialiter  in  eleemosynis 
pauperum,  in  fabicationibus  hospitalium,  in  aedificiis  Ecclesiarum  et 
caeteris  misericordiae  operibus,  quae  omnia  enumerare  longum  esset. 
Nee  fuerunt  ista  momentanea  seu  parvo  tempore  durantia,  sed  usque 
ad  mortem  continua.  Item  quantae  fuerit  justitiae,  apparuit  eviden- 
ter  non  solum  per  exempla,  imo  etiam  per  tactum.  Sedebat  enim 
quasi  continue  in  terra  super  lectum,  ut  audiret  causas,  maxime 
pauperum  et  orphanorum,  et  eis  faciebat  exhiberi  justitiae  comple- 
mentum.  Unicuique  etiam  reddebat  quod  suum  est.  TJnde  potest 
dici  de  ipso,  quod  dicitur  Eccles.  XVI.  "  Opera  justitiae  ejus  quis 
enunciabit  ? "  quasi  dicat,  enumerari  non  possent.  Et  ideo  in  pace 
et  quiete  magna  tenuit  regnum  suum.  Concordes  enim  sunt  pax  et 
justitia.  Et  ideo  sicut  sedit  in  justitia,  ita  regnum  ejus  quievit  in 
pace.  TTnde  verificatum  est  de  ipso  quod  dicitur  Proverb.  XX.  "  Mis- 
ericordia  et  veritas  custodiunt  Regem,  et  roborabitur  dementia 
thronus  ejus."  Voluit  insuper  Dominus  manifestare  sibi,  quod  erat 
vas  electionis  ad  portandum  verbum  suum  coram  gentibus,  et  Regi- 
bus,  et  filiis  Israel.  Et  ideo  ostendit  illi,  quanta  oportebat  eum  pro 
nomine  suo  pati:  quia  licet  tot  divitiis,  deliciis,  et  honoribus  abun- 
daret,  relinquens  omnia,  corpus  suum  et  vitam  suam  exposuit  pro 
Christo,  mare  transfretando,  et  contra  inimicos  Crucis  Christi  et 
fidei  Catholicae  decertando,  usque  ad  captionem  et  incarcerationem 
proprii  corporis,  uxoris,  et  fratrum  suorum. 

Quantam  vero  animi  constantiam,  et  quale  exemplum  justitiae  et 
bonitatis  ostenderit  in  adversitate  praedicta,  hoc  sciunt  illi  fide  digni, 
qui  ab  illis,  qui  interfuerunt,  veritatem  diligenter  inquisierunt.  Nam 
cum  captus  esset  a  Soldano,  et  fratres  sui,  et  certa  summa  pecuniae 
deberant  redimi;  volebat  Soldanus  quod  ilia  pactio  seu  processio  pe- 
cuniae tali  pacto  firmaretur,  ut  si  dictus  Soldanus  a  promisso  reced- 
eret,  legem  suam  et  Deos  suos  abnegaret.  Ipse  vero  Rex  e  converse, 
si  pactum  non  teneret,  fidem  Christi  negaret.  Pius  vero  Rex  et 
Catholicus  haec  audiens,  exhorruit,  et  monitus  a  fratribus  suis  ut 
hoc  faceret,  dicentibus  quod  hoc  satis  licite  poterat  promittere,  post- 
quam  non  intendebat  a  pacto  seu  conventione  recedere,  respondit  eis 
sic:  Dominus  faciet  id  quod  voluerit  tarn  de  me,  quam  de  vobis.  Vos 
ut  fratres  diligo,  me  etiam  ut  me  diligo.  Sed  hoc  avertat  Deus,  quod 


504:  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

tale  verbum  de  ore  Regis  Franciae  unquam  exeat,  quicquid  inde  deb- 
eat  accidere.  Soldanus  vero  videns  ejus  magnam  constantiam  tarn 
in  gestibus  quam  in  responsis,  credidit  verbo  suo  simplici,  et  ipsum  ac 
fratres  suos,  ac  etiam  omnes  reliquos,  quos  tenebat,  dimisit.  Miracula 
etiam  tempore  captionis  suae  plurima  acciderunt,  inter  quae  unum 
fuit  praecipuum,  et  relatione  dignum.  Quidam  enim  Religiosus,  qui 
eum  secutus  fuerat,  et  cum  eo  captus,  dum  staret  secum  in  una 
camera  secreta,  coepit  Rex  devotus  multum  conqueri  et  condolere 
propeter  hoc,  quod  Breviarium  non  habebat,  ubi  posset  dicere  Horas 
suas  Canonicas.  Respondit  f rater  ille,  eum  consolando :  Non  est 
curandum  in  tali  articulo :  sed  dicamus  nihilominus  "  Pater  noster," 
et  alia  quae  poterimus.  Sed  cum  multum  affligeretur  super  isto,  in- 
venit  iuxta  se  subito  Breviarium  suum  proprium,  divinitus,  ut 
credimus,  sibi  et  per  miraculum  est  apportatum. 

Item  postquam  a  carcere  fuit  liberatus,  non  vixit,  nee  indutus  fuit 
sicut  prius:  licet  vita  et  conversatio  eius  prius  fuisset  satis  honesta. 
Vestes  enim,  quas  postea  habuit  non  erant  Regiae,  sed  Religiosae: 
non  erant  militis,  sed  viri  simplicis.  Vitam  etiam  eius,  qualiter  in 
aedificationibus  Ecclesiarum,  et  visitationibus  infirmorum,  caecorum, 
et  leprosorum  continuaverit,  nullus  enarrare  sufficit. 

Inter  caetera  vero,  hoc  exemplum  notabile  recitatum  fuit  nobis  a 
fide  dignis,  dum  essemus  in  Francia;  quod  apud  Abbatiam  Regalis- 
montis  erat  quidam  Monachus  lepra  abominabiliter  infectus,  in  tan- 
tum  quod  propter  foetorem  et  abominationem  ulcerum,  vix  invenie- 
batur,  qui  ad  eum  accedere  vellet:  sed  quae  necessaria  erant  a  longe 
eidem  projiciebantur  seu  dabantur.  Rex  vero  pius  audiens  hoc  de 
illo,  pluries  visitavit  eum,  et  eidem  humiliter  ministravit;  saniem 
ulcerum  ejus  studiose  detergendo,  et  eidem  cibum  et  potum  propriis 
manibus  ministrando.  Talia  namque  et  consimilia  consuevit  facere 
in  dominus  Dei  et  Leprosariis,  et  specialiter  in  domo  Dei  Paris,  quod 
multi  et  multotiens  viderunt.  Unde  in  talibus  apparet,  quantae  com- 
passionis  et  pietatis  fuerit  iste  Rex  factus. 

Item  quantarum  eleemosynarum  fuerit  ipse  sanctus  homo,  apparet 
per  illos,  qui  statuta  dandi  eleemosynas  suas  noverunt.  Inter  alia 
namque  statuit,  quod  quotienscumque  de  novo  intrabat  Paris,  nouae 
eleemosynae  darentur  Religiosis,  et  specialiter  Mendicantibus,  et  ideo 
frequentius  exibat,  ut  saepius  eleemonsinae  hujusmodi  redderentur. 

Praetera  non  suffecit  ei  dare  sua,  sed  volens  plus  reddere  Deo,  re- 
liquit  mundum,  uxorem,  et  regnum,  exposuit  filios  suos,  et  reliquit 
siepsum,  iterum  in  Terram  sanctam  peregrinando.  Poterat  dicere 
Domino  cum  beato  Petro  et  reliquis  Apostolis,  id  quod  dixit  Petrus 
Matt.  XX.  "  Ecce  reliquimus  omnia,  et  secuti  sumus  te."  Et  in 
tanta  perfectione,  qua  secutus  fuerat,  vitam  finivit  sanctissime.  Nam 
secundum  quod  testificatum  est  ab  assistentibus,  iste  non  fuit  finis 
hominis  humanitati,  sed  quodam  modo  iam  sanctificati  servi.  Quod 
apparuit  in  verbis,  et  monitionibus  Sanctis  quas  in  lecto  mortis  dice- 
bat:  et  in  signis,  quae  tune  temporis  evidenter  in  ipso  apparuerunt. 
Quam  vero  salubria  exempla  et  monita  reliquit  posteris,  indicant 
maxime  documenta  sancta,  quae  pius  Rex  ante  mortem  filio  suo 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  505 

primogenito,  et  filiae  suae  Reginae  Navarrae  scripsit,  et  quasi  pro 
testamento  eis  reliquit.  Cum  etiam  signis  evidentibus  appropin- 
quaret  ad  finem,  de  nullo  erat  sollicitus,  nisi  de  iis,  quae  ad  solum 
Deum  propric  pertinebant,  et  ad  exaltationem  fidei  Christianae. 
Unde  in  fine  dixit:  Amodo  nullus  loquatur  mecum.  Et  sic  stans  per 
magnum  spacium,  quasi  nullus  permissus  est  loqui  sibi,  nisi,  Sacerdos 
sive  Confessor  proprius.  Et  sic  ad  extreman  horam  veniens,  spiritum 
reddidit  Creatori. 

Istum  vero  sanctum  Regem  merito  vocavimus  Caesarem,  qui  pos- 
sessor Principatus,  seu  possidens  Principes  interpretatur.  Ipse  enim 
Principatum,  seu  Principem  huius  mundi  possedit:  tres  inimicos 
humanae  naturae,  mundum,  carnem,  et  diabolum  prosternendo.  Vicit 
enim  mundum,  quia  stants  in  mundo  mundum  prostravit  et  calcavit, 
contemnendo,  et  Deo  subdidit ;  terrena,  quae  mundi  sunt,  in  eleemosy- 
nis  distribuendo.  Diabolum  etiam  calcavit,  seipsum  sicut  superius 
dictum  est,  summe  et  perfectissime  humiliando;  et  signo  crucis,  quod 
assumpsit,  et  tamdiu  portavit,  ipsum  prosternendo.  Carnem  nihilo- 
minus  vicit  et  domavit,  earn  spiritui  subjiciendo.  Maxime  quia  sicut 
constat  ex  testimonio  plurimorum,  este  numquam  carnem  suam  divisit 
in  plures,  nee  cum  aliqua  peccatum  commisit.  Ita  quod  ipsemet, 
excepta  uxore  propria,  virgo  ab  aliis  pennansit. 

Videns  ergo  Deus  istum  talem  et  tantum  virium  sic  bene  ingres- 
sum,  sic  melius  progressum,  sic  sanctissime  de  mundo  egressum; 
voluit  quod  non  staret  amplius  lucerna  sub  modio,  sed  per  grandia 
et  multa  miracula  voluit  eum  manifestare,  et  quasi  super  candela- 
brum ponere.  Nam  sicut  invenimus,  vidimus,  et  nosmetipsi  die 
propria  examinavimus  per  plures  inquisitiones  a  nobis,  et  a  nostris 
fratribus,  ac  etiam  pluribus  summis  Pontificibus  approbatas:  sexa- 
ginta  tria  miracula,  inter  caetera,  quae  Dominus  evidenter  ostendit, 
certitudinaliter  facta  cognovimus. 

Quia,  sicut  alias  dictum  est,  actus  iste,  scilicet  ascribere  in  catalogo 
Sanctorum  per  canonizationem  Romani  Pontificis,  singularis  excel- 
lentiae  reputatur  in  Ecclesia  militante,  et  ad  solum  Romanum  Ponti- 
ficem  pertineat  hoc  agere:  idcirco  summam  gravitatem  in  facto  tarn 
singulari  Sedes  Apostolica  voluit  observare.  Quamvis  et  vita  sua 
fuisset  ita  manifesta,  et  multa  miracula  visa,  sicut  superius  dictum 
est,  preces  etiam  Regiae,  Baronum,  et  etiam  Praelatorum  pluries 
accessissent :  nihilominus  cum  inquisitionibus  privatis  pluribus  iam 
factis,  adhuc  voluit  inquisitiones  solemnes  per  non  parum  tempus 
facere.  Duravit  istud  negocium  iam  per  XXIV.  annos,  vel  amplius. 
Et  licet  Dominus  Nicolaus  III.  ante  dixisset,  quod  ita  nota  erat  sibi 
vita  istius  sancti,  quod  si  vidisset  duo  vel  tra  miracula,  eum  canon- 
izasset;  sed  morte  praeventus  non  potuit  hoc  perducere  ad  effectum. 
Ex  abundanti  tamen  fuit  adhuc  commissum  negocium  inquisitionis 
viris  venerabilibus  et  discretis,  Archiepiscopo  scilicet  Rothomagensi, 
et  Episcopo  Antisiodorensi,  et  magistro  Rolando  de  Palma  Episcopo 
Spoletano.  Et  isti  de  sexaginta  tribus  miraculis  testes  receperunt, 
examinaverunt,  rubricaverunt:  et  iam  sexdecim  annis  transactis  ad 
Curiam  remiserunt.  Insuper  per  illos  sexdecim  annos  continue  aliqui 


506  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

ex  parte  Regis  Franciae,  necnon  Praelatorum,  et  prmcipum,  et  spec- 
ialiter  Frater  Joannes  de  Samessio,  continue  institerunt. 

Tandem  prodicto  negotio,  tempore  domini  Martini  commissum  est 
negotium  tribus  Cardinalibus  ad  examinandum,  qui  viderunt,  exam- 
inaverunt,  et  pro  magna  parte  rubricaverunt.  Sed  cum  ante  mortem 
domini  Martini  non  fuissct  facta  relatio  negotii,  pervenit  tandem 
ad  tempora  Domini  Honorii.  Et  tune  lecta  sunt  plura  miracula, 
et  coram  fratribus  nostris  Cardinalibus  diligenter  discussa.  Sed  dum 
ventilaretur  negotium,  superveniente  morte  Domini  Honorii,  nego- 
tium siluit. 

Tempore  vero  domini  Nicolai  IV.  commissum  est  negotium  tribus 
aliis  Cardinalibus,  domino  scilicet  Hostensi,  domino  Portuensi,  et 
nobis  in  statu  Cardinalatus  adhuc  existentibus :  quia  mortui  erant  illi 
Cardinales,  quibus  negotium  prius  fuerat  commissum.  Postea  etiam 
mortuo  domino  Hostiensi,  subrogatus  fuit  sibi  dominus  Sabinensis. 
Et  ita  per  tot,  et  totiens  examinatum  est,  rubricatum,  et  discussum 
negotium;  quod  de  hoc  facta  sit  copia  scripturarum,  Nos  et  de  manup 
propria  scripsimus,  et  diligenter  examinavimus  multa  miracula  fuisse 
sufficienter  probata. 

Temporibus  autem  nostris  non  sunt  mutati  examinatores,  sed  tamen 
iterum  lecta  sunt  plura  miracula,  examinata,  et  rubricata,  non  solum 
per  illos  predictos  examinatores,  sed  etiam  plures  alios  Cardinales. 
Et  voluimus,  ut  quilibet  sigillatim  daret  consilium  suum  in  scriptis, 
ne  odio,  vel  amore,  seu  etiam  timore  aliquo  aliquis  taceret. 

Ex  istis  ergo,  et  pluribus  aliis  potest  evidenter  concludi,  quod 
servata  fuit  maturitas  et  plus  quam  maturitas  in  praedictis.  Et  ideo 
de  tarn  manifesto  viro,  et  sic  in  sanctitate  vitae  et  miraculorum  pro- 
bato,  secure  possumus  asserere,  quod  non  debet  amplius  fama  sancti- 
tatis  eius  sub  modio  latere,  sed  debemus  ei  dicere:  Amice,  ascende 
superius,  ut  sit  tibi  gloria  in  Ecclesia  militante  coram  simul  discum- 
bentibus.  Et  ideo  quasi  ex  ore  Dei  dicta  sunt  nobis  et  Ecclesiae 
militanti  verba  proposita  in  principio,  "Reddite  quae  sunt  Caesar  is 
Caesari,  etc."  ut  in  hoc  reddatur  Deo  quod  suum  est  qui  laudatur  in 
Sanctis  suis.  Reddatur  Caesari  isti  quod  suum  est,  scilicet  honor, 
et  gloria  debita,  Sanctis  reddatur,  et  matri  nostrae  Ecclesiae  tri- 
umphanti  quod  suum  est,  silicet  debitum  laudis:  et  hoc  in  isto 
sancto,  qui  connumerari  debet  merito  cum  aliis  sanctis,  quia  civis 
effectus  est  patriae  caelestis.  Et  sic  cum  matre  nostra  debemus  con- 
laetari,  et  istum  tanquam  sanctum  honorare:  ut  sic  per  consequens 
exemplis  vitae  eius  in  Ecclesia  militanti  recitatis,  fides  Catholica 
roboretur,  Reges  et  principes  ad  bonum  animentur,  et  omnes  univer- 
saliter  in  bonis  suis  operibus  et  exemplis  aedificentur,  et  ad  majora 
bona  provocentur,  quod  nobis  praestare  dignetur,  qui  vivit  et  regnat, 
etc.  amen. 

"  Rex  pacificus.  magnificatus  est,"  quia  eodem  Spiritu  Sancto,  quo 
locuti  sunt  et  illuminati  patres  veteris  Testamenti,  Patriarchae  vide- 
licet et  Prophetae,  locuti  sunt  etiam  sancti  novi  Testamenti.  Propter 
quod  dicit  Apostolus  I.  Cor.  XII.  "  Divisiones  gratiarum  sunt,  idem 
autem  spiritus,  dividens  singulis  prout  vult."  Unde  militans  EC- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  507 

clesia  eodem  spiritu  loquens,  quasi  exultando  assumit  verbum  pro- 
positum,  quo  ad  sententiam  de  tertio  libro  Reg.'  X.  et  de  secundo 
Paralip.  IX.  et  tamen  mutat  verba,  quae  licet  ad  literam  dicta  sunt 
de  Rege  Salomone  in  veteri  Testamento;  tamen  quia  de  exaltatione 
Ecclesiae  loquitur,  propter  magnificationem  et  exaltationem  sanc- 
tissimi  Regis  Ludovici,  possumus  eodem  spiritu  de  ipso  verba 
proposita  exponere,  in  quibus  sanctus  Rex  Ludovicus  intribus  com- 
mendatur,  primo  de  excellent!  statu,  quia  Rex;  secundo  a  donis  et 
virtutibus,  quia  pacificus;  tertio  apraemiis  et  renumerationibus,  quia 
magnificatus  in  Ecclesiae,  scilicet  militanti. 

De  primo  notandum,  quod  qui  bene  regit  seipsum  et  subditos,  suos, 
ipse  vere  Rex  est.  Sed  qui  nescit  regere  se  et  subditos,  audacter 
dicendum  est,  quod  falsus  Rex  est.  iste  vero  Rex  fuit  in  veritate,  quia 
seipsum  et  subditos  vere,  inste,  et  sancte  regebat.  Seipsum  enim 
rexit,  quia  carnem  subjecit  spiritui,  et  omnes  motus  sensualitatis 
rationi.  Item  subditos  bene  regebat,  quia  in  omni  justitia  et  aequi- 
tate  ipsos  custodiebat.  Rexit  etiam  Ecclesias,  quia  jura  Ecclesiastica, 
et  libertates  Ecclesiae  illaesas  conservabat.  Sed  qui  de  facto  bene 
non  regunt,  vere  Reges  non  sunt. 

Secundo,  commendatur  a  donis  et  virtutibus,  cum  dicitur  pacificus, 
id  est  pacem  faciens.  Per  istud  enim  donum,  et  per  istam  virtutem 
intelliguntur  caetera  dona  et  virtutes.  Euit  autem  pacificus  in  se, 
et  quoad  omnes  non  solum  subditos,  sed  extraneos.  In  se  fuit  paci- 
ficus. Habuit  enim  pacem  temporis,  pacem  pectoris,  et  idcirco  tan- 
dem consecutus  est  pacem  aeternitatis.  Qualiter  vero  pacifice  tenuit 
regnum  suum,  hoc  sciunt  omnes,  qui  sunt  illius  temporis.  Ista  vero 
pax  non  est  sine  justitia.  Sequitur  enim  justitiam.  Et  quia  iste 
Justus  fuit  quoad  se,  quoad  Deun,  et  quoad  proximum,  ideo  pacem 
habuit. 

Ex  istis  sequitur  tertium,  quod  magnificatus  est,  id  est  magnus 
factus  non  solum  in  prsesenti  Ecclesia,  sed  etiam  in  patria.  Notan- 
dum vero,  quod  vulgariter  loquendo  aliquis  dicitum  magnus  quad- 
ruplici  ratione,  secundum  quadruplicem  dimensionem :  videlicet  primo 
quia  longus,  secundo  quia  latus,  tertio  quia  profundus,  quarto  quia 
altus,  sive  elatus.  Ista  habuit  sanctus  Rex  spiritu aliter.  Fuit  enim 
longus  per  perseverantiam  et  longanimitatem  in  bono.  Ab  infantia 
enim  coepit  bene  vivere,  et  usque  in  finem  perseveravit.  Unde  potest 
exponi  de  ipso,  quod  dicitur  de  Isaac  Genes.  XXVI.  "  Benedixit 
ei  Dominus,  et  locupletatus  est:  et  ibat  proficiens  atque  succrescens, 
donee  vehementer  magnus  effectus  est."  Iste  spiritualiter  loquendo 
fuit  Isaac,  qui  risus  interpretatur,  quern  peperit  Sara  iam  vetula,  per 
quam  potest  significari  Ecclesia  istius  temporis  in  senio  novissimorum 
temporum  constitute,  quae  nobis  peperit  istum  Isaac,  qui  nobis  merito 
debet  esse  materia  risus  et  gaudij.  Sequitur,  "ibat  proficiens,  etc." 
ut  possit  dicere  cum  Apostolo,  II,  ad  Tim.  IV.  "  Bonum  certamen 
certavi,  cursum  consummavi:  in  reliquo  reposita  est  mihi  corona 
justitise,  etc." 

Secundo  dicitur  magnus,  quia  latus,  sive  amplus;  et  hoc  per  chari- 
tatem.  Unde  Eccl.  XL VI.  "  Fortis  in  bello  Jesus  Nave,"  et  seq : 


508  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

qui  fuit  magnus  secundum  verbum  suum,  maximus  in  salutem  elec- 
torum  Dei.  Non  eriim  est  memoria  apud  homines,  ut  credimus,  quod 
inventus  fuit  isti  similis  nostris  temporibus,  qui  tantum  zelaret  pro 
salute  aliorum.  Quod  bene  apparuit,  quando  ipse  et  fratres  sui  capti 
fuerunt  a  Saracenis.  Non  enim  sustinuit  liberatinem  suam,  nee 
fratrum  suorum,  donee  omnes  alii  quotquot  fuerunt  capti,  prius 
fuerint  liberati. 

Tertio  dicitur  magnus,  quia  profundus,  hoc  per  humilitatem. 
Quanto  enim  magis  profunde  se  humiliat  homo,  tanto  major  apud 
Deum  reputator,  secundum  id  quod  dicitur  Luc.  XIV.  "  Omnis  qui 
se  exaltat  humiliabitur,  et  qui  se  humiliat  exaltabitur."  Et  quia  iste 
profundissime  se  humiliavit,  ideo  apud  Dominum  merito  magnus  ex- 
titit.  Unde  potes  exponi  de  ipso  quod  dicitur  I.  Reg.  II.  de  Samuele, 
"  Magnificatus  est  Samuel  apud  Dominum."  Ipse  vero  humiliavit  se 
intus  et  extra,  in  lingua,  in  corde,  in  veste,  in  orationibus.  Et  hoc 
possumus  secure  asserere,  quod  facies  sua  benigna  et  plena  gratiarum 
docebat  eum  esse  supra  hominem.  Intelligitur  vero  congrue  per 
Samuelem,  quod  interpretatur,  Obediens  Deo.  Obedivit  enim  Deo 
usque  ad  mortem. 

Quarto  dicitur  magnus,  quia  altus,  sive  elevatus  fuit  per  inten- 
tionem  rectam  ad  Deum,  omnia  quae  agebat  Deo  attribuendo,  et  ei 
gratias  agendo ;  secundum  quod  dicitur  in  Psalmo :  "  Non  nobis 
Domiiie,  non  nobis;  sed  nomini  tuo  da  gloriam."  Unde  de  ista 
magnitudine  loquitur  Judith  XVI.  loquens  Deo,  "qui  timent  te, 
magni  erunt  apud  te  per  omnia. 

Apparet  igitur  qualiter  isti  sancto  competunt  verba  primo  proposita 
"  Rex  pacificus  magnificatus  est."  Et  quia  sic  quadrupliciter  fuit 
magnus  in  terris,  sicut  dictum  est,  idcirco  omnino  tenere  debemus, 
quod  etiam  sit  magnificatus  in  crelis.  Hoc  enim  pertinet  ad  divinam 
justitiam,  quod  qui  bonus  et  Justus  fuit  in  vita,  magnificetur  et  ex- 
altetur  in  gloria.  Quod»apparet  de  isto  per  multa  et  magna  miracula: 
quse  Dominus  per  ipeum  ostendit.  Et  ideo  merito  ipsum  glorificatum 
et  magnificatum  credimus  in  ccelis,  et  ideo  eum  catalogo  Sanctorum 
ascribimus,  praecipientes  omnibus  fidelibus  Christianis,  quod  ipsum 
tanquam  sanctum,  et  per  plura  miracula  notificatum  veneretur,  et 
eius  patrocinia  corde  devoto  sibi  postulet  suffragari.  Quod  nobis 
prasstare  dignetur  qui  vivet  et  regnat,  etc.  amen. 


DOCUMENT  (2A). 

ARBITRAL   DECISION   OF   BONIFACE   IN    THE    PROCEEDINGS   PENDING   BETWEEN 
EDWARD  OF  ENGLAND  AND  PHILIP  THE  FAIR. 

In  nomine  Domini  Amen.  Anno  Domini  MCCXCVIII.  indictione 
XI.  pontificatus  domini  Bonifacii  papae  VIII.  anno  IV.  die  XXVII. 
mensis  junii,  sanctissimus  pater  et  dominus,  dominus  Bonifacius 
divina  providentia  Papa  VIII.  arbitrium,  laudum,  diffinitionem, 
arbitralem  sententiam,  amicabilem  compositionem,  mandatum,  ordi- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  509 

nationem,  et  alia  infrascripta  recitavit,  legi  fecit,  dedit,  et  protulit  in 
hunc  modum :  Dudum  inter  charissimos  filios  nostros  Philippum 
Francorum  ex  parte  una,  et  Eduardum  Angliae  Reges  illustres  ex 
altera,  suggerente  inimico  humani  generis  pacis  aemulo,  super  di- 
versis  articulis  materia  discordiae  ac  dissensionis  exorta,  tandem, 
iidem  Reges  per  speciales  nuntios  et  procuratores  ipsorum,  ad  hoc 
ab  eis  mandatum  habentes,  in  nos  Bonifacium,  divina  providentia 
papam  VIII.  tanquam  in  privatam  personam,  et  dominum  Bene- 
dictum  Gaytanum  tamquam  in  arbitrum  et  arbitratorem,  laudatorem 
diffinitorem,  arbitralem  sententiatorem,  amicabilem  compositorem, 
praeceptorem,  arbitratorem,  et  dispositorem,  et  procuratorem  super  re- 
formanda  pace  et  concordia  inter  ipsos  Reges,  ac  super  iis,  quae  ad 
pacem  pertinent ;  et  super  omnibus,  et  singulis  discordiis,  guerris,  liti- 
bus  controveriis,  causis,  quaestionibus,  damnis  et  injuriis,  petitionibus 
et  actionibus,  realibus  et  personalibus  atque  mixtis,  quae  fuerant,  et 
erant  seu  vertebantur,  et  esse  vel  verti  possent  inter  ipsos  Reges  oc- 
casione  quacumque;  de  alto  et  basso  absolute  et  libere  compromittere 
curaverunt  

Pronuntiamus  hac  vice,  ut  inter  eosdem  Reges  fiat  et  sit  perpetua 
et  stabilis  pax;  et  quod  treguae  vel  sufferentiae  voluntariae  dudum 
indictae,  initae  ac  firmatae  inter  eos,  eo  modo  et  forma,  ac  omnibus, 
et  illis  personis  et  terris,  et  sub  illis  poenis,  conditionibus,  et  tem- 
poribus  sub  quibus  indictae,  initae,  ac  firmatae  fuerent  inviolabiliter 
observentur.  Ad  hujusinodi  autem  pacem  confirmandam,  roborandam 
atque  servandam  infra  tempus,  et  quod  duxerimus  moderandum, 
praefatus  Rex  Angliae  Margaretam  sororem  praedicti  Regis  Franciae 
recipere  ac  ducere  cum  dotalitio  quindecim  millium  librarum  Tu- 
ronensium,  assignando  per  ipsum  regem  Angiliae  in  locis  compenti- 
bus,  de  quibus  inter  partes  fuerit  concordatum,  vel  (ubi  partes  ipsae 
non  concordarent  per  nos  arbitratum  fuerit,  in  uxorem:  et  idem 
Rex  Franciae  eamdem  sororem  suam  eidem  Regi  Angliae  in  uxorem 
dare,  et  tradere  cum  dispensatione  Sedis  Apostolicae  teneatur:  quod- 
que  Isabella  filia  praelibati  Regis  Francia,  quae  infra  annum  sep- 
tennem  dicitur  constituta  suo  tempore  Eduardo  praedicti  Regis  an- 
gliae  filio,  qui  jam  XIII.  aetatis  suae  annum  exegit,  cum  simili  dis- 
pensatione matrimonialiter  cum  dotalitio  decem  octo  millium  lib- 
rarum Turonensium,  similiter  assignando  per  eundem  Regem  Angliae 
pro  dicto  filio  suo  in  competentibus  locis,  de  quibus  concordaverint 
ipsae  partes,  de  quibus  nos  duxerimus  arbitrandum,  si  super  hoc  inter 
eos  non  provenit  concordia,  copulentur,  idque  firmetur  atque  valletur 
ex  nunc  modis  inf erius  annotatis ; 

Item  dicimus,  laudamus,  arbitramur,  seu  etiam  diffinimus,  quod 
de  omnibus  bonis  mobilibus  vel  se  moventibus,  ablatis  vel  alias  male 
subtractis  et  de  omnibus  damnis  datis  hinc  inde  ante  tempus  motae 
vel  ortate  guerrae  praesentis;  primo  de  omnibus,  quae  extant  et  con- 
sumpta  non  sunt  praesertim  in  terra,  quod  Rex  Angliae  omnia,  quae 
de  praedictis  extant  et  consumptu  non  sunt,  praesertim  de  navibus, 


510  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

et  aliis  quibuscumque  bonis  per  Anglicos,  et  Vascones,  et  eorum  com- 
plices ante  guarram  occupatis  in  mari  vel  in  terra,  quod  Rex  Angliae 
omnia,  quae  de  praedictis  extant  bona  fide  sine  lite  et  absque  figura 
judicii,  omni  fraude  cessante,  ad  requisitionem  Eegis  Franciae  vel 
nuntii  sui  statim  faciat  ad  plenum  restitui:  et  Rex  Franciae  sim- 
iliter,  si  qua  talia  ante  dictam  guarram  capta  vel  ablata  apud  ip- 
sum,  vel  in  sua  potestate  extantia  reperta  fuerint,  similiter  ad 
plenum  restitui  faciat  a  praefato  Rege  Angliae  vel  ejus  nuntio  re- 
quisitus.  De  ablatis  vero  non  extantibus,  sed  deperditis,  et  consump- 
tis,  laudamus,  arbitramur,  seu  etiam  diffinimus,  quod  Rex  Angliae 
ad  requisitionem  Regis  Franciae  vel  nuntii  ejus  satisfieri  faciat;  et 
ad  hoc  faciendum  etiam  teneatur  sine  lite  ac  figura  judicii,  bona  fide, 
et  omni  fraude  cessante:  et  Rex  Franciae  similiter,  si  qua  per  gentes 
suas  ablata,  deperdita,  seu  consumpta  inventa  fuerint,  ad  requisi- 
tionem Regis  Angliae  vel  nuntii  sui  faciat  satisfieri,  taxatione  nobis 
circa  praedictorum  aestimationem  contra  utramque  partem;  ubi  per 
concordiam  partium  negotium  super  praedictis  sopitum  non  esset, 
plenarie  reservata. 

Item  dicimus,  laudamus,  arbitramur,  seu  etiam  diffinimus,  quod 
idem  Rex  Angliae  de  omnibus  terris,  vassallis,  et  bonis,  quae  ipse 
nunc  habet,  et  tenet  in  regno  Franciae,  seu  tenebat  aute  motam 
guarram  praesentem,  habeat  illam  quantitatem  et  illam  partem  ter- 
rarum,  vassallorum,  et  bonorum  eorumdem  quam  sibi  ex  virtute  com- 
promissorum  praedictorum  laudaverimus,  et  mandaverimus  assignari, 
vel  inter  Reges  ipsos  fuerit  concordatum,  et  sub  illis  fidelitate,  horn- 
agio,  modis,  et  conditionibus  habeat,  sub  quibus  ipse  ac  pater  suus 
habuisse  hactenus,  et  tenuisse  noscuntur,  modis,  et  temperamentis  per 
nos  adhibendis  in  abusu,  si  quis  ex  parte  gentis  Regis  Franciae 
hactenus  commissus  inventus  fuerit  in  exercitio  resorti;  modis  etiam 
et  temperamentis,  per  nos  adhibendis  in  abusu  partis  alterius,  si 
quis  videlicet  ex  parte  Regis  Angliae  vel  suorum  hactenus  commissus 
contra  jus  resorti  fuerit  inventus,  ne  talia  in  posterum  commit- 
tantur,  conditionibus  etiam,  modis,  et  securitatibus  per  nos  impon- 
endis  et  adhibendis  in  terris,  vassallis,  bonis,  et  aliis,  quae  per  nos- 
tram  pronuntiationem,  seu  concordiam  partium  praefatus  Rex  Ang- 
liae vel  successores  ejus  contra  Regem  Franciae  vel  successores  ip- 
sius  valeant  rebellare. 

Dicimus  etiam,  laudamus,  et  arbitramur,  seu  etiam  diffinimus,  quod 
ex  nunc  omnes  terrae,  vassalii,  et  bona  praedicta,  et  alia  tarn  quae 
tenet  Rex  Franciae  de  iis,  quae  tenebat  Rex  Angliae  ante  guerram 
presentem;  quam  quae  tenet  Rex  Angliae  in  regno  Franciae,  bona 
fide,  ac  sine  omni  fraude,  absolute  ac  libere  in  manibus  et  posse  nos- 
tris  ponantur,  et  assignantur,  tenenda  nomine  Regis  Franciae,  quae 
ex  parte  sua  et  nomine  Regis  Angliae,  quae  ex  parte  ejusdem  nobis 
fuerint  assignata;  ita  tamen,  quod  per  hoc  in  possessione  vel  proprie- 
tate  nil  novi  juris  accrescat  alterutri  partium,  vel  antiqui  decrescat: 
super  quorum  assignatione,  si  qua  fuerit  exorta  dubitatio  vel  ambig- 
uitas  inter  partes,  illam  nostrae  declaration!  et  arbitrio  reservamus. 
Quod  si  forsan  dicti  Reges  de  ipsis  terris,  et  bonis  ad  invicem  concor- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  511 

daverint,  volumus,  laudamus,  et  arbitramur,  ex  nunc  id,  in  quo  con- 
cordaverint,  perpetuo  et  inviolabiliter  observari,  alioquin  nos  ex 
compromissi  praedicti  virtute  apponemus  ad  id  illud  remedium,  quod 
Domiuus  ministrabit,  et  ex  tradita  nobis  potestate  licebit.  Si  vero 
casu  aliquo  contingente  hoc  facere  non  possemus,  volumus,  dicimus, 
et  arbitramur,  quod  utrique  parti  pristina  jura  sua  salva  remaneant 
et  illaesa,  etc.  Acta,  lata,  et  pronuntiata  fuerunt  arbitrium,  laudum, 
arbitralis  sententia,  mandatum,  diffinitio,  ordinatio,  dispositio,  et 
omnia  supradicta  per  eundem  dominum  Papam,  ut  superius  enarran- 
tur,  anno,  indictione,  mense,  ac  die  praedictis,  Eomae  apud  S.  Pet- 
rum  in  palatio  papali,  in  consistorio  publico,  facto  in  sala  majori, 
praesente  ibi  gentium  multitudine  copiosa;  et  presentibus  reverendis 
patribus  dominis,  Dei  gratia,  Gerardo  Sabinensi,  fratre  Mattheo  Por- 
tuensi  et  S.  Kuffinae,  et  Joanne  Tusculano  episcopis;  Joanne  tit.  et. 


DOCUMENT  (2B). 

THE  EVIL   COUNSEL  OF   GUY   OP   MONTEFELTRO. 

There  has  not  been  a  single  historian  who,  having  occasion  to 
speak  of  Boniface  VIII,  has  failed  to  remark  that  this  Pontiff,  fol- 
lowing the  counsel  of  Guy  of  Montefeltro,  by  solemn  perjury  enticed 
the  Colonnas  out  of  fortified  Palestrina,  and  vented  his  anger  on 
them. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  first  one  to  relate  the  evil  advice  of  Guy 
was  Dante,  and  every  one  else  only  quoted  him,  in  so  much  that  the 
truth  of  the  fact  does  not  rest  on  the  testimony  of  an  eyewitness,  of  a 
contemporary  writer,  nor  of  an  earnest  analist,  but  on  that  of  a  poet, 
such  as  Dante,  who  wrote  verses  to  satisfy  his  rancor.  Here  are  the 
words  which  he  put  in  the  mouth  of  Guy,  buried  in  Hell: 

"  A  soldier  once, — I  next  around  me  tied 
St.  Francis'  cord,  in  hope  to  expiate  crime; 
And  truly  had  those  hopes  been  verified, 
But  that  the  mighty  Priest    (whom  evil  take) 
Allured  me  to  my  sins  a  second  time; 
And  how,  and  why,  I  will  disclosure  make. 
While  yet  a  form  of  flesh  and  bone  was  mine, 
My  mother's  gift,  my  deeds  resembled  less 
Those  of  the  lion  than  the  fox; — so  fine 
The  artifice  with  which  I  played  my  game, 
So  exquisite  my  cunning  and  address, 
The  world's  fair  limits  sounded  with  my  fame. 
But  when  I  saw  that  time  of  life  begin, 
When  every  man,  the  port  approaching,  ought 
To  coil  the  ropes,  and  take  the  canvas  in; — 
What  first  had  pleased  me,  irksome  seemed  to  grow; 
And  to  repentance  and  confession  brought, 


512  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

I  had  been  blest; — alas,  now  plunged  in  woe! 
The  haughty  prince  of  Modern  Pharisees, 
Who  near  the  Lateran  his  warfare  waged, 
And  not  'gainst  Moors  or  Jewish  enemies 
(For  all  were  Christians  whom  his  vengeful  hand 
Opposed;  and  now  at  Acre  had  engaged, 
Or  e're  had  trafficked  in  Sultan's  land,) 
Regarded  not  his  own  exalted  state 
And  holy  office,  nor  my  sacred  cord, 
Which  should  the  form  it  girds  attenuate, 
But,  as  of  old,  to  cure  his  leprosy, 
Sylvester  was  by  Constantino  implored; 
So  in  commanding  tone  he  called  on  me 
To  mitigate  the  fever  of  his  pride: 
He  asked  my  counsel,  but  I  answered  not, 
Deeming  his  words  to  drunkenness  allied. 
Again  he  said  to  me ;  "  Be  not  afraid — 
I  do  absolve  thee; — tell  me  by  what  plot 
May  Palestrina  in  the  dust  be  laid. 
Heaven,   as  thou  knowest,   I   have  the  power   at  will 
To  lock  or  unlock;   hence  the  keys  are  twain, 
What  erst  by  predecessor  prized  so  ill." 
"Then  had  his  cogent  arguments  full  sway, 
For  silence  could  procure  me  little  gain; 
And  I :  '  O,  Father,  since  you  wash  away 
The  sin  I  am  about  to  perpetrate, — 
Large  by  your  promise — your  performance  slack, 
Thus  will  you  triumph  in  your  high  estate.'  " 

Now  to  summarize  the  words  of  Dante.  Guy  of  Montefeltro  (for  he 
means  no  other  man)  famous  more  for  his  cunning  than  for  his 
bravery,  became  a  religious  towards  the  end  of  his  life.  The  prince 
of  modern  Pharisees,  Boniface  VIII,  made  him  unfaithful  to  his 
pious  resolution  to  lead  a  holy  life.  This  Pontiff  was  at  war  with  the 
Colonnas,  who  lived  in  the  Lateran  quarter  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and 
he  could  not  conquer  them,  because  they  were  entrenched  in  Pales- 
trina, a  strongly  fortified  town.  He  consulted  Friar  Guy  on  the 
means  to  accomplish  his  end.  The  religious  remained  deaf  to  the 
entreaty,  because  he  considered  it  unreasonable,  and  that  of  an  in- 
toxicated man.  But  Boniface  pressed  him,  granting  him  in  advance 
absolution  from  every  evil  expedient,  that  he  could  advise  for  the 
destruction  of  Palestrina.  Guy  then  assured  in  advance  of  the  pardon 
of  his  sin  gave  utterance  to  his  famous  counsel,  which  was  to  promise 
everything  and  "to  fulfil  nothing.  All  clear  Boniface  of  this  double 
iniquity,  believing  that  it  is  sufficient  to  remark  the  Dante  was  a 
poet,  and  wrote  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  imagination;  and 
that  besides  he  was  a  Ghibelline  and  hence  an  implacable  enemy  of 
Boniface.  But  this  one  remark  which  is  easy  for  anyone  to  make, 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  513 

cannot  persuade  everybody  that  Boniface  was  innocent.  For  even  as 
a  poet  and  Ghibelline  Dante  could  relate  some  truths.  Let  us  how- 
ever examine  the  fact  historically  and  morally. 

Boniface  proclaimed  the  crusade  against  the  Colonnas  the  14th  of 
December,  1297,  as  is  evident  from  his  Brief  in  the  register  of  his 
letters  21 :  "  Dantum  Romae  apud  St.  Petrum  decimo  nono  Tcalendas 
Januarii,  anno  tertio."  Consequently  the  crusaders  could  not  move 
against  Palestrina  sooner  than  the  year  1298.  After  having  seized, 
in  a  few  days,  all  the  fiefs  of  the  Colonnas,  they  reached  the  walls  of 
Palestrina,  which  they  considered  impregnable,  by  reason  of  the  stout 
resistance  of  Agapitus  Sciarra,  and  the  two  Cardinals  James  and 
Peter  Colonna.  Francis  Pepino,22  and  Ferrettus  of  Vicenza,23  relate 
that  Boniface  sent  for  Guy  of  Montefeltro,  a  professed  religious  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Francis  in  the  monastery  at  Ancona,  and  entrusted 
to  him  the  leadership  of  the  army ;  but  Guy  after  a  complete  examina- 
tion of  the  fortifications  of  Palestrina,  declared  them  impregnable. 
Then  adhering  closely  to  the  account  of  Dante,  using  his  very  words, 
they  relate  that  Guy  being  consulted,  gave  the  Pope  the  wicked  advice 
in  question. 

The  reader  will  notice,  that  before  the  surrender  of  Palestrina,  we 
must  admit  necessarily  three  periods  of  time;  the  one  commencing 
from  the  publication  of  the  crusade,  that  is,  from  the  middle  of 
December,  1297,  and  ending  with  the  assembling  of  the  troops,  and 
their  movement  against  the  Colonnas;  in  fact  it  is  impossible  to 
assemble  an  army  in  a  day;  the  second  from  the  movement  of  the 
troops  to  the  seizure  of  all  the  fiefs  of  the  Colonnas;  the  third  in  fine, 
from  these  conquests  up  to  the  time  the  capture  of  Palestrina  by 
force  was  despaired  of.  So  from  January,  1298,  to  September  of  the 
same  year,  when  the  city  surrendered,  the  troops  were  assembled,  the 
fiefs  of  the  Colonnas  were  conquered,  and  Palestrina  was  besieged 
without  result.  Guy  was  not  summoned  until  the  war  against  the 
Colonnas  had  already  commenced,  as  Dante  relates: 

"  The  prinec  of  modern  Pharisees 
Who  near  the  Lateran  his  warfare  waged." 
That  is,  against  the  Colonnas  who  lived  in  that  quarter. 

"  He  asked  my  counsel." — 

Ferrettus  of  Vicenza  affirms  the  same ;  after  having  said  that  the 
Colonnas  were  intrenched  in  Palestrina,  he  adds :  "  Turbatus  autem 
"Bonifacius,  quod  in  contemptu  apostlicae  Sedis  arma  sumpsisset, 
"  illico  adversus  rebelles  suos  bellum  indixit ;  assumptisque  viris  et 
"  armis  circiter  oppidum  hoc  (Palestrina)  ubi.  hostes  sui  repugna- 
"  bant,  longae  obsidionis  castra  disposuit,  multorumque  cruoris 

nReg.  Vat.  MS.  Anno  III,  Vaticano.  Epist.  700. 
"Chron.  Cap.  21,  S.  R.  I.,  torn.  9,  page  741. — 
»S.  R.  I.,  torn.  9,  page  970,  lit.  c. 


514  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"utrinque  dimicando  cominus  haustum  est.  Donee  Apostolicus 
"  segnem  moram  increpans,  quod  expugnati  hostes  diu  non  succum- 
"  berent  eos  dolis  et  astu,  non  viribus  superare  jam  statuit.  Tune 
"  Guidonem  de  Monteferetro  ....  sedulus  advocat." 

Guy  was  then  called  by  Boniface,  when  this  Pontiff  despairing  of 
capturing  Palestrina  by  force,  desisted  from  assaults,  changing  the 
siege  into  a  blockade,  as  we  perceive  from  the  words :  "  Longae  obsi- 
"  dionis  castra  disposuit."  Guy,  according  to  Ferrettus  conferred  with 
the  Pope,  who  was  at  Rieti,  as  we  learn  from  the  dates  of  the  letters 
of  the  latter;  and  he  set  out  for  Palestrina  to  examine  affairs  in  com- 
pany with  the  Pontifical  captain.  He  studied  the  walls  and  the  moats 
of  the  city  and  found  them  impregnable.  He  told  this  to  the  Pope, 
and  then  upon  request  gave  him  the  treacherous  counsel.  Let  us  fix 
our  attention  on  this  counsel. 

Guy  did  not  advise  a  military  stratagem  which  would  require  a 
long  time  to  execute,  but  simply  to  promise  much  and  fulfil  nothing, 
that  is  to  say,  to  entice  the  Colonnas  out  of  the  citadel  by  fair 
promises,  and  afterwards  not  keep  them.  The  execution  of  this  plan 
demanded  only  an  exchange  of  couriers.  There  was  no  necessity  of 
long  comings  and  goings ;  for  the  treachery  being  already  in  the  heart 
of  the  Pope,  these  promises  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  lead  the 
rebels  easily  and  quickly  into  the  trap.  The  time  is  fixed  by  Ferrettus 
himself :  "  Deinde  illis,  qui  hostes,  f uerant,  (to  the  Colonnas)  trium 
"  dierum  spatium  benigne  constituents,  ut  intra  illud  coram  suo  prin- 
"  cipe  devenirent."  Now  Palestrina  surrendered  in  September,  1298,24 
and  consequently  the  counsel  of  Guy  and  the  capture  of  the  town  can 
be  considered  as  happening  in  the  same  month.  Let  us  now  see 
where  Guy  was  in  this  September. 

Guy  became  a  religious  in  1296,  at  Ancona.  Jacobilli,  in  his  work 
on  The  Saints  and  Blessed  of  Umbria,  says  in  speaking  of  Guy  of 
Montefeltro:  "As  he  was  in  the  world  a  celebrated  and  renowned 
"  warrior,  so  he  was  in  religion  a  true  knight  of  Jesus  Christ ;  his 
"life  was  holy,  and  a  great  example  to  posterity.  He  received  the 
"  holy  habit  of  the  Friars  Minor  from  the  hands  of  the  Provincial  of 
"  the  Marches,  in  the  city  of  Ancona,  on  August  17th,  1296.  He  lived 
"  in  continual  prayer,  humility  and  edification ;  afterwards  he  was 
"  transferred  to  the  city  of  Assisi  in  order  to  gain  the  indulgence  of 
"  the  Portiuncula  .  .  .  Being  stationed  in  the  convent  of  St.  Francis, 
"  at  Assisi,  he  there  died  a  holy  death  in  the  Lord,  September  23rd, 
1298.25  Wading  in  his  annals  of  the  Friars  Minor,  produces  the 
testimony  of  Jerome  Rossi,  who,  in  his  history  of  Ravenna,  writes 
of  the  year  1298.  "  Tertio  kalendas  octobris  Guido  Montis  Feltrii 
"  Comes,  Franciscano  jam  abitu,  ut  supra  memoravimus,  inductus, 
"  Anconae  migravit  ex  hac  vita."  According  to  Rossi,  Guy  died,  not 
on  the  23rd,  but  on  the  29th  of  September,  but  always  in  September 
of  that  year.28 

21  See  Patrini,  Memorie  Prenestine  for  year  1298. 

a  Riposati  Delia  Zecca  di  Gubbio,  e  de  Duchi  de  Urbino  T.  I.,  p.  86. 

29  Lombard!  in  his  commentary  on  the  Inferno  says  of  Guy :   "  A  man 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  515 

It  seems  then  that  Guy,  who  was  said  to  have  been  summoned  from 
Assisi,  where  he  happened  to  be  on  August  2nd,  for  the  indulgence  of 
the  Portiuncula,  and  who  died  in  September,  the  month  in  which 
Palestrina  was  surrendered,  must  have  been  dying  at  the  very  time 
he  was  declared  to  be  conferring  with  the  Pope,  afterwards  to  be  on 
a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  fortifications  of  Palestrina,  and  then  to 
have  given  his  detestable  counsel;  unless  one  wishes  to  believe  (which 
could  happen)  that  he  died  suddenly  afterwards.  But  if  he  did  not 
die  suddenly  during  the  time  he  was  on  his  military  inspection,  and 
when  he  had  given  this  evil  counsel,  Guy  must  have  been  ill,  and 
preparing  himself  for  death  like  the  good  Christian  all  declare  him; 
and  as  a  consequence  we  must  admit  also  that  he  was  unable  for  these 
military  expeditions,  and  incapable  of  giving  any  counsel.  More- 
over, immediately  before  his  death  he  was  in  Assisi,  where  he  died, 
and  where  his  body  reposed  until  his  son  Frederick  had  it  transferred 
to  the  Church  of  St.  Donatus,  afterwards  called  St.  Bernardine,  out- 
side of  Urbino.  The  reader  will  see  then  that  Guy  in  the  month  of 
September  was  dying  at  Assisi,  and  not  at  all  admitting  the  Papal 
army  into  Palestrina  by  treason. 

We  know  that  the  reader,  trusting  in  conjectures,  can  find  that  the 
entire  month  of  September  was  long  enough  for  Guy  to  have  acted 
towards  Palestrina  as  he  was  said  to  have  done,  and  then  have  fallen 
ill  of  the  disease  which  carried  him  off.  Hence  we  intended  up  to 
this  only  to  cast  a  doubt  on  the  account  of  Dante,  and  afterwards  by 
clear  proofs  change  the  doubt  into  a  certainty.  We  now  come  to 
these  proofs. 

It  is  certain  that  the  Colonnas  surrendered  Palestrina  into  the 
hands  of  Boniface;  it  is  certain  that  this  town  was  not  taken  by 
storm.  If  faith  is  to  be  placed  in  Dante,  it  surrendered  on  conditions 
violated  later  by  the  Pope,  after  the  advice  of  Guy.  Now  if  we  see, 
as  clear  as  day,  that  the  surrender  of  Palestrina  was  made  to  the 
discretion  of  the  victor,  and  not  under  conditions,  will  it  still  be  pos- 
sible to  believe  in  anterior  promises  of  conditions,  in  their  violation, 
and  in  fine  in  the  wicked  counsel  of  the  poor  Friar  Guy  ? 

During  the  time  the  Colonnas  were  proudly  resisting  Boniface, 
they  showed  themselves  nevertheless  accessible  to  a  project  of  peace 
and  reconciliation  with  him,  provided  they  were  not  deprived  of  their 
fortress,  to  which  the  Pope  was  far  from  consenting.  We  have  seen 

brave  in  war,  and  of  a  mind  very  penetrating  for  poetical  times;  in  his 
old  age,  wishing  to  do  penance  for  his  sins,  he  assumed  the  Franciscan 
habit,  died  in  the  holy  convent  of  Assisi  and  was  buried  in  this  patri- 
archal Basilica."  The  commentator  supports  his  opinion  by  a  passage 
from  a  book  of  the  Convent  of  Assisi.  "  Guy  of  Montefeltro,  count  of 

Urbino   and   prince entered   piously   and   humbly   in   the 

order;  he  effaced  his  faults  by  tears  and  by  fasts,  and  (notwithstanding 
the  poetical  license  permitted  the  sarcastic  Dante),  he  died  a  very  holy 
death  in  the  sacred  house  of  Assisi  where  he  was  buried.  Marianus  and 
Jacobi,  who  lived  in  his  time,  denied  all  that  Dante  relates." — 


516  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

how,  from  the  month  of  September  of  the  preceding  year,  1297,  the 
Senator  interposed,  after  a  deliberation  of  the  municipality  of  Rome, 
as  a  peacemaker  between  the  Colonnas  and  the  Pope,  exhorting  the 
former  to  make  an  absolute  submission :  "  Suaserunt  ....  in- 
"  duxerunt  .  .  .  .  et  mandarunt,  quod  ad  pedes  nostros  reverenter 
"venirent,  nostra  et  ipsius  Romanae  Ecclesiae  absolute  ac  libere 
"  mandata  f  acturi :  ad  quae  praef  ati  schismatici  et  rebelles  ipsis  am- 
"  bascoatoribus  desponderunt,  quod  ipsi  parati  erant ;  et  offerebant 
"  ae  ventures  ad  pedes  nostros  ac  nostra  et  praef  atae  Ecclesiae  man- 
"  data  facturos."  This  is  what  Boniface  wrote  to  Pandolpho  Savelli 
and  the  Roman  people  from  Orvieto,  the  29th  of  September,  1297.  It 
is  evident  then  that  the  surrender  of  the  Colonnas  to  the  Pope,  which 
happened  a  year  later,  and  which  was  fully  and  simply  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  Pope,  was  not  sudden  nor  the  result  of  perfidious  prom- 
ises of  Boniface.  It  was  already  a  year  since  Senator  Savelli  inter- 
posed to  prevail  upon  the  Colonnas  to  trust  to  the  clemency  of  the 
Pope;  and  the  Pope  in  the  year  1297,  was  disposed  to  receive  them: 
"  Intuitu  Dei  et  consideration  vestri  ....  praefactos  Columnenses 
"  venientes  benigne  recipere  ac  misericorditer  pertractare."  But  as 
the  Pope  demanded  besides  their  submission,  the  surrender  also  of 
the  towns,  fortresses  and  castles  they  possessed :  "  tarn  personas  suas, 
"  quam  civitates,  arces  et  castra  quae  detinent,  vel  detientur  pro  eis, 
"in  manibus,  et  posse  nostris,  ac  eorum,  quibus  mandaliimus,  posuer- 
"  int  cum  effectu,  gremium  non  claudemus,  quin  eos  .  .  .  .  "  The 
Colonnas  refused  to  consent,  and  they  continued  to  wage  war  for  a 
year.  When  they  had  lost  their  fiefs,  their  last  intrenchment,  we 
find  that  town  fallen  at  last  into  the  power  of  the  Pope,  and  destroyed 
after  a  desperate  resistance.  How  did  the  Colonnas  leave?  Were 
they  taken  out  by  force,  did  they  surrender  on  conditions,  or  at  the 
discretion  of  the  victor  ?  There  are  but  these  three  ways  of  becoming 
master  of  a  fortress,  and  only  the  second  of  these  can  coincide  with 
the  treason  counselled  by  Guy.  Let  us  see  then  if  the  Colonnas  sur- 
rendered on  conditions.  Now,  this  is  how  their  coming  over  to  Boni- 
face is  described  in  a  passage  of  the  Chronicles  of  Orvieto;  presented 
by  Cardinal  Garambi  to  Peter  Anthony  Petrini,27  and  quoted  by  him 
in  his  "Memoirs  of  Palestrina."  "Dominus  Jacobus,  D.  Petrus, 
"  Agabitus,  et  Sciarra  de  Columna,  et  rebelles  huic  summo  Pontifici 
"  venerunt  f  acturi  et  parituri  mandatis  Domini  Papae  cum  multa 
"  reverentia  et  humilitate  magna,  qui  recepti  fuerunt  a  Romana 
"  Curia  cum  laetitia  multa.  Et  statim  post  Camerarius  D.  Papae 
"  possessionem  et  teriutam  habuit  arcis  Penestrinae,  et  aliarum  terra- 
"  rum  nobilium  praedictorum."  Paulinus  de  Piero  relates  the  same 
fact,  in  his  Chronicle  for  the  year  1298,  as  follows :  "  At  this  time, 
"  and  in  the  month  of  September,  Pope  Boniface  being  with  his  court 
"  at  Rieti  ....  Messer  James  and  Messer  Peter,  sons  of  Messer 
"  John  Colonna,  with  all  the  other  Colonnas,  came  to  crave  mercy 
"  from  the  Pope,  who  pardoned  them  kindly  and  graciously,  and 

"Mon.  25,  pag.  422. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  517 

"  granted  them  absolution  from  excommunication ;  then  Palestrina 
"  surrendered,  but  less  than  a  year  from  that  time  they  severed  their 
"  bonds  of  obedience  and  the  Pope  excommunicated  them  again." 
The  Chronicles  of  Orvieto  and  Paulinus  of  Piero  speak  then  only  of 
surrender  at  discretion.  The  first  one  expressed  this  clearly: 
"  Venerunt  facturi  et  parituri  mandatis  Domini  Papae  cum  multa 
"reverentia  et  humilitate  magna."  The  terms  of  the  second  are  no 
less  formal :  "  They  came  craving  mercy."  But  why,  the  reader 
may  ask,  place  faith  in  these  two  Chronicles  in  preference  to  Ferrettus 
of  Vicenza?  We  answer,  because  their  narration  is  confirmed  by 
other  proofs.  When  the  cause  of  Boniface  was  pleaded  before 
Clement  V.  in  France,  the  Colonnas,  ranged  among  the  number  of  the 
accusers,  having  declared  that  they  had  not  been  humiliated  before 
Boniface  by  a  confession  of  their  faults,  that  it  to  say,  that  they  had 
not  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  as  a  consequence  Boniface  had 
treacherously  destroyed  Palestrina,  Cardinal  Francis  Gaetani,  nephew 
of  Boniface,  replied  thus  to  these  lies :  "  Falsum  est,  quia  dum  D. 
"  Bonifacius  PP.  VIII.  Reate  moraretur,  in  consistorio  publico  in 
"praesentia  Dominorum  Cardinalium,  ac  omnium  Praelatorum,  qui 
"  tune  erant  praesentes  in  Curia,  necnon  Domini  Principis  Tarentini, 
"  qui  nunc  praesens  hie  extat,  quique  posset  de  praedictis  verum 
"  testimonium  perhibere,  ac  etiam  aliorum,  clericorum  et  laicorum 
"  praesente  ibidem  mutitudine  copiosa,  dicti  Column,  tune  humilia- 
"  tionis  spiritum  praetendentes,  non  insidendo  equis  sed  pedes  (sic) 
"  a  portis  civitatis  Reatin,  usque  ad  conspectum  praef  ati  Summi  Pon- 
"  tificis,  tune  in  trono  sedentis  et  coronam  gestantis  in  capite,  quam 
"  nullus  nisi  solus  verus  et  legitimus  PP.  gestavit  unquam,  nee 
"  gestare  debet,  personaliter  accesserunt ;  et  tandem  ad  pedes  ejus 
"  humiliter  provoluti  ipsum  Dominum  Bonif.  per  devota  pedum 
"  oscula,  ac  per  verborum  expressionem,  ex  quibus  contriti  cordis  et 
"humiliati  spiritus  indicia  praeferebant,  verum  Catholicum  ac 
"  legitimum  Papam  publice  recognoverunt,  et  professi  sunt ;  et 
"  denique  suos  excessus  et  culpas  longe  lateque  per  orbem  notorios 
"  tune  ibidem  sponte  recognoscentes,  et  confitentes  expresse  se  dignos 
"  poena  non  gratia,  misericordiam  sibi  fieri  non  judicium  humiliter 
"  postularunt.  Altero  quidem  ipsorum  Dominorum  Colomn.  illud 
"  verbum  evangelicum  proponente,  quod  scribitur  de  filio  patris- 
"  f amilias  prof ugo :  "  Peccavi,  Pater,  in  coelum  et  corum  te,  jam  non 
"  sum  dignus  vocari  filius  tuus." — Reliquo  vero  impsorum  verbum 
"  propheticum  subjungente,  quod  scribitur; — "  affixisti  nos  propter 
"  nostra  scelera." — Videant  ergo  qui  veritatem  diligunt,  si  ex  talium 
"  prolatione  verborum,  suos  fatebantur  vel  diffitebantur  excessus. 
"  Quanta  ergo  fides  eisdem  Dominos  Columnensibus  super  aliis  ad- 
"  hiberi,  quando  super  praedictis,  quae  tot  et  tantis  fuere  notoria, 
"  immo  per  orbem  jam  ubisque  vulgata,  eos  nogare  non  pudet,  sic 
"  publicam  et  notoriam  veritatem  ex  ipsorum  manifesta  calumnia 
"  satis  colligitur  evidenter." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  what  Cardinal  Gaetani 
affirms.     He  speaks  of  things  which  happened  not  in  secret,  nor  in 


518  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

past  ages,  but  in  sight  of  all,  and  only  a  few  years  previous ;  and  the 
witnesses  of  these  events,  such  as  the  Prince  of  Tarentum,  to  whom 
Gaetano  appeals,  could  confirm  them.  Now  was  the  surrendering  on 
conditions  this:  appearing  before  the  Pontiff,  prostrate  at  his  feet, 
and  suing  for  mercy?  Was  this  a  case  of  men  presenting  themselves 
before  a  victorious  Pontiff  and  still  relying  on  the  conditions  of  any 
treaty?  Was  it  not  rather  the  spectacle  of  men  at  bay,  despairing  of 
every  means  of  defence,  and  trusting  to  the  clemency  of  the  Pope? 
If  this  is  surrendering  on  conditions,  what  shall  we  call  surrendering 
at  discretion?  And  if  the  Colonnas  surrendered  at  discretion,  what 
then  becomes  of  the  perfidious  counsel  of  Guy? 

The  same  reply  of  Cardinal  Gaetani  to  the  accusations  of  the 
Colonnas,  make  known  to  us  clearly,  the  kind  of  treason  with  which 
they  reproached  Boniface.  They  accused  him  not  only  of  having 
expelled  them  from  Paletrina,  but  also  of  having  destroyed  that  town, 
after  promising  them,  in  case  they  surrendered,  to  leave  it  in  their 
custody,  being  satisfied  if  they  raised  the  Papal  standard  over  the 
walls. — "  De  his  quae  dicunt  per  ....  numcios  papales  fuisse  trac- 
"  tata,  et  de  eo  quod  dicunt  de  ponendis  vexillis  D.  Bonifacii  in 
"  civitate  Penestrae  et  aliis  castris,  remanente  custodia  ipsis 
"  Columnensibus  .  .  .  ."  Gaetano  denied  these  assertions  and  proved 
his  denial.  "  Quomodo  enim  verisimile,  nondum  verum  est,  quod 
"  praedicti  Column,  qui  post  professionem  propriorum  excessum  et 
"  culparum,  et  post  recognitionem  aberrationis  suae,  solius  miseri- 
"  cordiae  beneficium  postulabant,  et  qui  confessi  erant  se  justae  puni- 
"tionis  sententiam  exceptisse  pro  pactis  aliquibus  institissent."  In 
fact  the  Colonnas,  to  prove  the  possibility  of  treason  on  the  part  of 
Boniface,  denied  their  humiliations  at  Rieti,  their  appeals  for  mercy 
and  pardon  not  coinciding  with  the  conditions  of  treaty  whose  exist- 
ence they  wanted  to  prove. 

And  here  let  us  remark  the  precautions  of  Ferrettus.  He  admits  the 
treason;  he  admits  consequently  a  prior  conditional  treaty  concluded 
between  the  belligerents;  and  he  admits  the  fact  of  their  intention 
of  coming  over  to  Boniface;  but  he  does  not  make  them  arrive  in  his 
presence,  because  he  would  have  been  compelled  to  put  in  their  mouths 
either  words  of  pity  and  mercy,  or  a  request  for  the  observance  of 
conditions.  But  who  could  believe  that  the  Colonnas  would  have 
gone  themselves  to  demand  the  fulfilment  of  the  conditions  of  the 
surrender,  and  place  themselves  in  the  hands  of  a  Pope  whom  they 
were  far  from  considering  as  a  saint?  If  they  asked  for  mercy  and 
pardon,  then  there  would  not  have  been  either  any  conditions  or 
treachery.  To  evade  the  difficulty  Ferrettus  says,  that  on  their  way 
to  meet  Boniface  they  were  warned  by  one  who  knew,  secreti  con- 
scius  or  perhaps  by  divine  inspiration,  divina  inspiratione,  that  they 
would  be  treacherously  murdered,  and  as  a  consequence  they  fled. 
Then  according  to  Ferretto,  the  treason  of  Boniface  consisted  in 
finding  means  of  putting  the  Colonnas  to  death  after  having  driven 
them  from  Palestrina.  But  the  Colonnas  themselves  declared  in  the 
presence  of  Clement  that  they  did  not  have  to  leave  Palestrina,  but 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  519 

merely  raise  the  Papal  standard  over  the  walls.  Their  journey  to 
Rieti,  to  ask  for  mercy,  they  formally  denied;  and  if  they  had  left 
Palestrina  to  implore  pardon,  Boniface  would  certainly  not  have 
allowed  them  to  escape.  It  was  difficult  to  make  them  come  forth; 
if  they  once  left  it  was  easy  to  surround  them  by  the  vast  body  of 
soldiers  which  Boniface  had  amassed.  According  to  Ferretto,  the 
Colonnas  went  out  full  of  confidence  in  Boniface,  afterwards  they 
fled  on  the  advice  that  was  given  them.  In  that  first  moment  of 
abandonment  of  the  promises  of  the  Pope,  they  could  have  been 
imprisoned,  and  imprisoned  immediately  by  the  soldiers  that  still  in- 
vested Palestrina.  They  fled,  and  whither  did  they  go  ?  If  the  promise 
of  pardon  was  as  yet  not  granted,  we  cannot  believe  that  the  Colonnas 
would  leave  Palestrina  deprived  of  her  garrison.  If  their  kindred 
were  still  there,  why  did  they  not  return  and  confine  themselves 
within?  If  they  could  not,  they  should  have  renewed  the  hostilities 
in  the  environs  of  Palestrina.  Now  we  do  not  see  that  such  a  thing 
happened.  And  moreover,  what  were  the  conditions  of  surrender? 
According  to  the  Colonnas  on  the  part  of  Pope  he  was  to  grant 
pardon;  on  their  part  they  were  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  Pope  on 
the  walls.  And  what  benefit  was  this  to  Boniface  after  such  ex- 
pense, after  such  an  armament,  and  after  a  year  of  obstinate  warfare  ? 
If  any  conditions  existed,  they  should  have  been  equally  beneficial 
to  both  parties.  But  such  were  not  those  which  were  invented  by  the 
Colonnas. 

But  here  the  reader  can  stop  us  and  say  that,  even  supposing  a 
surrender  at  discretion,  there  could  have  been  treachery  on  the  part 
of  Boniface,  because  this  kind  of  submission,  among  civilized  nations, 
always  calls  for  clemency  on  the  part  of  the  victor.  This  is  all  very 
well;  but  what  was  the  act  of  Boniface  that  we  can  call  treason 
towards  the  Colonnas?  Perhaps,  the  occupation  of  Palestrina,  and 
the  subsequent  destruction  of  it?  No,  assuredly.  For  if  the  Pope 
had  the  obligation  of  being  clement,  he  had  also  the  obligation  of  de- 
fending himself.  To  leave  Palestrina  in  the  power  of  the  Colonnas 
after  a  year  of  war,  would  have  been  an  act  of  stupidity  and  not  of 
clemency.  He  showed  clemency  by  welcoming  them  kindly,  by  par- 
doning them  graciously,  as  di  Pietro  says,  and  by  absolving  them 
from  excommunication ;  and  he  provided  for  his  own  defence  and  that 
of  the  State  by  taking  from  them  Palestrina  and  destroying  it.  If 
he  had  put  to  death,  or  imprisoned  the  Colonnas,  after  their  sur- 
render, there  could  be  found  in  this  a  lack  of  due  clemency,  and 
hence  treason;  but  not  so  in  his  disarming  them,  and  depriving  them 
of  the  means  of  doing  harm.  The  other  punishments  inflicted  on  the 
Colonnas  were  after  their  second  rebellion,  one  year  after  their  sur- 
render.28 The  Colonnas  most  assuredly  were  rebels,  and  there  is  an 
enormous  difference  between  the  submission  of  an  honest  enemy  and 
that  of  a  rebel,  whenever  there  are  no  conditions  agreed  and  sworn  to 
by  both  parties.  The  Colonnas  had  been  pardoned,  absolved  frm  ex- 

18  See  Petrini  for  the  year  1300. 


520  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

communication,  left  free,  and  hence  they  should  have  blessed  the 
clemency  of  the  Pope,  like  any  honest  enemy  who  surrenders  himself 
to  the  mercy  of  the  victor. 

After  all  then,  the  Colonnas  did  not  surrender  under  condition ;  and 
for  this  reason  there  could  be  no  violation  of  a  treaty  with  regard  to 
them.  Although  they  surrendered  at  the  discretion  of  the  Pope,  the 
latter  by  the  destruction  of  Palestrina,  may  be  accused  of  excessive 
harshness  to  the  people  of  Palestrina,  yet  he  cannot  be  accused  of 
treachery  to  the  Colonnas.  Therefore  there  was  no  perfidious  counsel 
given  by  Guy  of  Montefeltro  to  Boniface. 

But  it  is  incumbent  on  us  here  to  reply  to  the  question  of  how  could 
Dante  have  imagined  the  entire  account  of  the  things  which  passed 
between  Guy  and  Boniface,  without  some  foundation  of  reality  of 
the  facts ;  inasmuch  as  there  is  always,  some  element  of  truth  in  even 
the  strangest  fables  of  the  poets.  The  question  is  reasonable,  and  we 
cannot  reply  to  it  with  the  same  certainty  and  with  such  strong 
proofs  as  those  by  which  we  believe  have  cleared  both  Guy  and  Boni- 
face of  rascality.  For  it  is  not  a  question  here  of  proving  a  truth, 
but  of  showing  how  an  error  gained  an  entrance  into  the  mind  of  a 
sublime  poet.  We  may  be  pardoned  then  a  conjecture.  The  war 
against  the  Colonnas,  their  surrender,  and  the  destruction  of  Pales- 
trina were  three  manifest  events  known  to  every  one,  and  which  no 
one  doubted.  The  reason  and  the  manner  of  the  surrender  could  be 
known  to  all  at  the  time  the  event  happened,  but  obscure  to  those  in 
far  distant  times,  and  from  this  reason  springs  the  liberty  to  suspect 
the  treacherous  Boniface.  Those  near  at  hand  could  see  with  their 
own  eyes  that  a  town  so  far  distant  from  the  sea  as  Palestrina  was, 
could  not  possibly  be  reprovisioned  except  by  land,  and  that  being 
entirely  surrounded  by  crusaders,  would  be  obliged  to  surrender 
through  famine  or  through  a  lack  of  arms.  Those  at  a  distance  could 
be  ignorant  of  these  circumstances,  and  doubt  the  reason  of  the  sur- 
render and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  effected.  The  Colonnas 
revolted  again,  and  spread  the  rumor  that  they  had  been  betrayed  by 
Boniface.  The  misery  of  these  fugitives,  the  hatred  of  the  Ghibel- 
lines  against  Boniface  gave  credence  to  it,  and  the  proceedings  begun 
in  France  against  Boniface  confirmed  it.  Dante,  a  sworn  enemy  of 
this  Pope,  accepts  this  evil  rumor,  and  from  this  gives  full  scope  to 
the  wildest  fancy  in  the  Divine  Comedy.  It  is  not  incredible  that 
some  counsel  was  asked  of  Guy  by  Boniface  in  the  matter  of  conduct- 
ing the  siege,  provided  however  the  former  was  alive  and  not  dying 
at  the  time  of  the  storming  of  Palestrina.  This  circumstance  could 
transpire  and  be  known  by  Dante.  When  the  rumor  of  the  treachery 
had  spread,  it  was  easy  to  surmise  that  the  astute  Montefeltro  had 
suggested  it  to  the  Pope.  Dante  asserts  that  the  thing  really  hap- 
pened ;  but  he  asserts  it  not  as  a  historian  who  strives  to  deceive,  but 
as  a  poet  who  wishes  to  lash  in  a  bloody  manner,  not  Guy  but  Boni- 
face. In  fact  he  had  praised  Guy  in  his  work,  "  il  Convite,"  (the 
Banquet),  saying:  "The  knight  Lancelot  and  our  illustrious  Latin 
"  Guy  of  Montefeltro  would  not  enter,  with  sails  spread,  into  the 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  521 

"  harbor  of  eternity.  These  noble  men  lowered  their  sails  of  worldly 
"  operations  by  becoming  religious  in  their  old  age,  and  by  renouncing 
"  all  worldly  affection  and  works."  Now  how  afterwards  did  he  cast 
him  so  shamefully  into  Hell  in  the  Divine  Comedy?  It  will  be  said 
that  il  Convite  was  written  before  the  deeds  of  Palestrina.  But  is 
this  certain?  Do  all  agree  in  admitting  this?  Balbo  and  other 
writers  before  him  declare,  for  good  reasons,  that  this  work  was 
written  when  he  was  in  exile. 

Was  it  then  possible  that  Guy,  of  such  noble  sentiments,  Guy,  a 
religious,  changed  so  quickly,  and  made  himself  the  counsellor  of  a 
vile  treason,  especially  when  his  advanced  age  allowed  him  nothing 
further  to  hope  for  in  this  world?  Was  he  so  stupid  as  to  believe 
that  a  crime  could  be  forgiven  before  it  was  committed?  And  if 
these  odious  interviews  did  take  place  between  Guy  and  Boniface, 
were  they  in  public  or  in  secret?  If  they  were  in  public,  both  were 
crazy;  if  in  secret  neither  one  would  have  revealed  it,  because  both 
would  be  defamed.  And  besides,  what  then  was  this  perfidious  and 
cunning  counsel,  for  which  it  was  necessary  to  disturb  and  torment 
a  poor  Friar? — "To  promise  much  and  fulfil  nothing." — This 
sort  of  behavior  is  very  well  known  to  even  the  least  cunning  of 
rogues,  and  if  Boniface  was  such  a  man  as  to  receive  and  adopt  this 
line  of  action,  he  was  also  capable  of  discovering  it  without  the  aid 
of  Guy.  The  assault  of  Dante  is  surprising  from  a  poetical  but  not 
from  a  historian  point  of  view.  And  Alighieri  could  not  strike  Boni- 
face with  a  more  subtle  weapon  than  that  which  he  made  from  the 
reports  of  the  treahcery  of  which  the  Colonnas  were  the  victims,  and 
the  evil  advice  asked  from  that  most  clever  captain,  Guy  of  Monte- 
feltro. 


DOCUMENT  (2C). 

BULL   INSTITUTING  THE   JUBILEE. 

Bonifacius  Episcopus,  etc. 

Antiquorum  habet  fide  relatio,  quod  accedentibus  ad  honorabilem 
Basilicam  Principis  Apostolorum  de  Urbe,  concessae  sunt  magnae 
remissiones,  et  indulgentiae  peccatorum. 

Nos  igitur  qui  juxta  officii  nostri  debitum  salutem  appetimus  et 
procuramus  libentius  singulorum,  hujusmodi  remissiones  et  indul- 
gentias  omnes  et  singulas,  ratas  et  gratas  habentes,  ipsas  auctoritate 
Apostolica  confirmamus,  et  approbamus,  et  etiam  innovamus,  et 
presentis  scripti  patrocinio  communimus. 

Ut  autem  Beatissimi  Petrus  et  Paulus  Apostoli,  eo  amplius  hono- 
rentur,  quo  eorum  Basilicae  de  Urbe  devotius  fuerint  a  fidelibus 
frequentatae,  et  fideles  ipsi  spiritualium  largitione  munerum,  ex 
hujusmodi  frequentatione  magis  senserint  se  refertos.  Nos  de  omni- 
potentis  Dei  misericordia,  et  eorumdem  Apostolorum  ejus  meritis  et 
auctoritate  confisi,  de  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio,  et  Apostolicae 


522  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

plenitudine  potestatis,  omnibus  in  praesentis  anno  millesimo  trecen- 
tesimo,  a  festo  Nativitatis  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  praeterito 
proxime  inchoato,  et  in  quolibet  anno  centesimo  secuturo,  ad  Basilicas 
ipsas  accedentibus  reverenter;  vere  poenitentibus  et  confessis,  vel 
qui  vere  poenitebunt,  et  confitebuntur,  in  hujusmodi  praesenti,  et 
quolibet  centesimo  secuturo  annis,  non  solum  plenam  et  largiorem, 
imo  plenissimam  omnium  suorum  concedemus  et  concedimus  veniam 
peccatorum. 

Statuentes,  ut  qui  voluerint  hujusmodi  indulgentiae  a  nobis  con- 
cessae  fieri  participes,  si  fuerint  Romani,  ad  minus  triginta  diebus, 
seu  interpolatis,  et  saltern  semel  in  die,  si  vero  peregrini  fuerint  aut 
forenses,  simili  modo  diebus  quindecim,  ad  Basilicas  easdem  accedant. 
Unuquisque  tamen  plus  merebitur,  et  indulgentiarn  efficacius  con- 
sequetur,  qui  Basilicas  ipsas  amplius  et  devotius  frequentabit.  Nulli 
ergo,  etc. 

Datum  Romae  apud  S.  Petrum,  8  Kal.  Martii,  Pont,  nostri 
Anno  VI. 


DOCUMENT  (2D). 

EXCLUSION  OP  THE   SICILIANS  AND  THE  COLONNAS  FROM   THE  INDULGENCES 

OF   THE    JUBILEE. 

Bonifacius  Episcpus  servus  servorum  Dei  ad  perpetuam  rei  memo- 
riam.  Nuper  per  alias  nostras  literas  omnes  remissiones  et  indul- 
gentias  peccatorum  concessas  accedentibus  ad  honorabilem  Basilicam 
Principis  Apostolorum  de  Urbe  ratificandas  et  approbandas  duximus, 
et  etiam  innovandas,  ut  tamen  beatissimi  Petrus  et  Paulus  Apostoli, 
eo  amplius  honorentur,  quo  ipsorum  Basilicae  de  Urbe  devotius 
forent,  et  fidelius  f requentatae :  et  fideles  ipsi  spiritualium  largitione 
munerum,  et  hujusmodi  frequentatione,  magis  se  sentirent  refectos. 
Nos  de  omnipotentis  Dei  misericordia,  eorundem  Apostolorum  ejus 
meritis  et  auctoritate  confisi,  de  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio,  et  Apos- 
tolicae  plenitudine  potestatis,  omnibus  in  praesenti  millesimo  tresen- 
tesimo,  a  festo  nativitatis  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  praeterito, 
proxime  inchoato,  et  in  quolibet  alio  centesimo  sequuturo  anno,  ad 
Basilicas  ipsas  accedentibus  reverenter,  vere  poenitentibus  et  con- 
fessis :  vel  qui  vere  poenitebunt  et  confitebuntur,  in  hujusmodi 
praesenti,  et  quolibet  centesimo  sequuturo  annis,  non  solum  plenam 
et  largiorem,  imo  plenissimam  omnium  suorum  concessimus  veniam 
peccatorum,  prout  in  istis  aliis  nostris  literis  continetur.  Verum  quia 
multi  indulgentiarum  gratia  se  reddunt  indignos,  declaramus  ex- 
presse,  et  dicimus  manifeste,  quod  illos  falsos  et  impios  Christianos, 
qui  portaverint,  vel  portabunt  merces,  seu  res  prohibitas  Saracenis 
vel  ad  terras  eorum  reportaverunt,  vel  reportabunt  ab  eis,  nee  non 
Frederiem  natura  quondam  Petri,  olium  Regis  Aragonum:  Ac 
Siculos  nobis  et  Ecclesiae  Romanae  hostes,  et  Apostalicae  sedis 
rebelles:  et  qui  receptabunt  Columnenses  eosdem,  et  generaliter 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  523 

omnes  et  singulos  publicos  hostes  et  rebelles  praesentes,  et  futures 
Ecclesiae  memoratae,  et  impugnatores  ipsius :  et  qui  dabunt  scientes 
supradictis,  eorum  alicui,  vel  aliquibus  auxilium,  consilium,  vel 
favorem,  publice,  vel  occulte  dum  in  sua  malitia  perstiterint,  ad 
dictae  Sedis  mandata  sua  malitia  redire  curaverint,  indulgentiarum 
hujusmodi  cum  non  sint  capaces,  nolumus  esse  participes,  ipsosque 
poenitus  excludimus  ab  eisdem.  Nulli  ergo  hominum  omnino  liceat 
hanc  paginam  nostrae  declarationis  voluntatis  et  exclusionis  infrigere, 
ei  ausu  temerario  contraire.  Si  quis  autem  hoc  attentare  praesump- 
serit,  indignationem  omnipotentis  Dei  et  beatorum  Petri  et  Pauli 
Apostolorum  ejus,  se  iioverit  incursurum.  Datum  Romae  apud 
sanctum  Petrum  Kal.  Martij  Pontificatus  nostri  anno  sexto. 


DOCUMENT  (2E). 

THE  OFFERINGS  OF  THE  JUBILEE. 

ALL  the  chroniclers  of  this  epoch  speak  of  the  vast  crowds  of  the 
faithful  who  flocked  to  Rome  from  all  parts  to  gain  the  indulgences 
of  the  Jubilee;  and  they  all  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  ad- 
mirable foresight  of  the  Pontiff,  by  which  such  a  vast  number  of  peo- 
ple were  well  provided  with  food  and  lodgment.  Paulinus  di  Piero, 
who  Manni 29  surmises  was  present  at  the  Jubilee  says :  "  The  City  of 
"  Rome  supported  and  provided  with  lodgings  this  innumerable  mul- 
"  titude  of  people,  and  with  everything  else  they  needed  for  a  year." 
Villani  more  diffuse,  expresses  it  thus:  "A  great  part  of  the  Chris- 
"  tians  living  at  that  time  made  the  same  pilgrimage,  women  as  well 
"  as  men  from  distant  and  different  countries,  both  near  and  far ; 
"  and  the  most  wonderful  thing  that  was  ever  seen  was  that,  during 
"  the  entire  year,  Rome  supported  constantly,  besides  the  Roman 
"  people  200,000  pilgrims,  without  counting  those  who  were  on  the 
"way  coming  and  returning;  and  that  all  were  abundantly  provided 
"  with  food,  horses  as  well  as  human  beings.  I  can  bear  testimony 
"  because  I  was  present  and  saw  all  this.  The  offerings  made  by  the 
"  pilgrims  increased  considerably  the  treasury  of  the  Church,  and 
"  the  Romans  all  became  rich  from  the  sale  of  their  wares."  William 
Ventura,  author  of  the  chronicle  of  Asti  adds  some  particular  details 
concerning  the  pious  offerings :  "  Mirandum  est  quod  passim  ibant 
"  viri  et  mulieres,  qui  anno  illo  Romae  fuerunt,  qui  ego  fui  ibi,  et 
"  per  dies  XV.  steti.  De  pane,  vino,  carnibus,  piscibus,  et  avena 
"  bonum  mercatum  ibi  erat.  foenum  carissimum  ibi  fuit;  hospicia 
"carissima;  taliter  quod  lectus  meus,  et  equi  mei  super  foeno  et 
"  avena  constabat  mihi  tornesium  unum  grossum.  Exiens  de  Roma 
"  in  Vigilia  Nativitatis  Christi,  vide  turbam  magnam  quam  dinu- 
"  merare  nemo  poterat ;  et  f ama  erat  inter  Romanes,  quod  ibi  fuerant 
"  plus  quam  viginti  centum  millia  virorum  et  mulierum.  Pluries 

"  Preface  to  the  Chronicle  S.  R.  I.,  Tom.  II  of  the  continuation. 


524  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"  ego  vidi  ibi  tarn  vires  quam  mulieres  conculcatos  sub  pedibus 
"  aliorum ;  et  etiam  egomet  in  eodem  periculo  plures  vices  evasi. 
"  Papa  innumerabilem  pecuniam  ab  eisdem  recepit,  quia  die  ac  nocte 
"  clerici  stabant  ad  altare  Sancti  Pauli  tenentes  in  eorum  manibus 
"  rastellos  rastellantes  pecuniam  infinitam."  These  three  eyewit- 
nesses narrate  three  remarkable  circumstances  which  signalized  the 
unusual  event  of  the  Jubilee;  the  immense  multitude  of  the  faithful 
that  flocked  to  Rome  to  gain  the  indulgences;  the  abundance  of 
provisions;  and  finally  the  vast  gifts  of  money  given  by  the  pilgrims. 
The  first  is  a  splendid  proof  of  the  liveliness  of  faith  which  still 
reigned  in  the  heart  of  those  generations,  and  of  the  opinion  which 
they  had  of  Pope  Boniface:  although  his  reputation  had  received 
some  injury  by  the  imprisonment  and  death  of  St.  Peter  Celestine, 
and  by  the  abusive  libels  of  the  Colonnas,  still  it  was  not  so  much 
sullied  as  to  prevent  his  voice  of  sovereign  Pontiff  from  having  a 
powerful  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  faithful.  The  Jubilee  was  a 
new  affair,  its  institution  was  not  one  of  the  ordinary  acts  of  the 
Pontifical  office  which  the  faithful  were  accustomed  to  judge  more 
in  the  public  than  in  the  private  person  of  the  Pontiff.  The  novelty 
of  the  publication  of  these  indulgences,  the  call  to  Rome  of  such  a 
multitude;  the  lively  impulse  given,  so  skilfully  and  so  aptly,  to 
piety  and  in  consequence  to  the  pious  offerings  by  exterior  pomp  of 
worship,  should,  in  calling  attention  to  the  private  individuality  of 
Boniface,  inspire  them  at  least  with  doubts  of  the  honesty  of  his 
purpose,  and  the  holiness  of  his  object.  To  his  call  all  responded; 
and  they  were  not  only  those  of  humble  life,  but  the  most  brilliant 
intellects  of  the  time  who  went  to  gain  the  indulgences  accordingly 
by  Boniface.  If  this  Pontiff  had  been  truly  a  man  like  Tiberius  and 
Mahomet,  people  would  have  answered  his  invitation  with  a  smile, 
indicating  that  they  were  on  their  guard  so  as  not  to  fall  into  a 
snare.  Whence  we  must  conclude  that  the  calumnies  uttered  against 
the  acts  of  Boniface  obtained  a  certain  consistency  only  from  the 
scandalous  proceedings  undertaken  against  this  Pontiff  by  Philip  the 
Fair. 

The  second  circumstance  remarked  by  the  chroniclers  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Jubilee,  namely,  the  wise  provisional  measures  effected 
by  Boniface,  by  which  so  great  a  multitude  did  not  want  for  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  reveals  to  us  not  only  the  lofty  mind  of  this  Pope,  but 
also  his  generosity,  so  great  were  the  expenses  that  he  was  obliged 
to  bear  in  order  that  a  great  abundance  might  continue  to  exist  for 
the  entire  year.  In  fact  the  high  price  of  things  having  begun  to  be 
felt,  as  Stephaneschi  says,30  it  was  prescribed  that  all  the  wheat 
of  the  neighboring  country  should  be  carried  to  Rome,  and  that  the 
pilgrims  arriving  should  bring  with  them  a  certain  quantity  of  bread. 
This  last  measure  concerned  only  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  and 
not  those  who  came  from  afar.  The  great  multitude  which  during  the 
entire  year  visited  Rome  'and  which  reached,  according  to  Ventura, 

*°  De  Jubil,  anno,  cap.  V.  Max  Biblioth.  Patrum,  Lyons,  Tom.  XXV. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  525 

the  number  of  two  millions  (not  incredible),  were  nourished  by  that 
which  was  collected  from  the  Campagna  of  Rome,  and  what  was 
transported  from  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Nothing  came  from  Sicily, 
because  that  island  was  at  that  time  at  war  with  the  Church.  Now 
this  wonderful  abundance  of  provisions  could  be  brought  to  the  city 
only  because  of  large  franchises  granted  to  foreign  traders;  the  cer- 
tainty of  selling  their  wares  in  Rome  not  being  sufficient  to  attract 
them,  the  Pontiff  had  them  come  by  buying  himself  their  cereals  at  a 
price  much  higher  than  at  what  he  gave  the  same  to  the  hungry 
crowd.  We  remark  that  Ventura  complains  of  the  scarcity  of  fodder 
and  lodgings,  for  which  he  had  to  pay  dearly  during  his  stay  in  Rome. 
Those  who  know  the  statistics  of  Rome  at  this  epoch,  and  the  condi- 
tions of  the  habitable  part  of  this  city  with  its  population,  can  judge 
of  the  truth  of  the  words  of  the  chronicler  of  Asti,  when  they 
remember  that,  according  to  Villani,  200,000  pilgrims  resided  daily 
in  the  city.  But  this  scarcity  of  fodder  makes  us  conjecture  that 
the  fields  which  to-day  around  Rome  are  uncultivated  and  produce 
only  grass,  were  in  Xlllth  century  carefully  cultivated  and  very 
fertile  in  grain.  Ventura  complains  of  the  scarcity  of  hay,  but  not 
of  wheat.  Stephaneschi  31  himself  speaks  of  the  abundant  harvest 
gathered  that  year.  If  these  details  are  true,  they  would  induce  us 
to  believe  that  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  and  the  Campagna  were  at 
that  time  more  numerous  than  in  our  day.  Moreover,  the  abundance 
of  wheat  and  the  dearness  of  fodder  assures  us  of  a  greater  popula- 
tion. For  the  human  race  increases  by  toil;  and  the  benefited  land, 
responds  to  lavish  care  bestowed  on  it  by  the  purity  of  the  air  which 
preserves  life,  and  makes  it  cheerful  and  prolific. 

Finally  we  must  say  a  word  on  the  immense  sums  of  money 
received  by  the  Pope,  during  the  Jubilee  year,  because  the  aforesaid 
writers  speak  of  this  as  one  thing  which  could  have  made  the  Pope 
a  veritable  Croesus.  Ventura  especially  distinguishes  himself  by  his 
malice;  after  having  regaled  the  eyes  of  the  readers  with  the  heaps 
of  money  raked  in  by  the  two  clerics,  he  adds :  "  Unde  sciant  Chris- 
"  tiani  venturi,  quod  praedictus  Bonifacius  et  ejus  cardinales  in 
"  aeternum  praedictam  indulgentiam  omni  anno  centesimo  venturo 
"  firmaverunt  et  decretum  fecerunt."  That  Ventura  had  seen  these 
two  clerics  day  and  night  raking  up  countless  money  offered  by  the 
pilgrims  at  the  feet  of  the  altar  of  the  Apostle  St.  Paul;  that  Vil- 
lani, de  Piero,  and  all  those  who  were  witnesses  at  Rome,  of  this 
concourse  of  faithful,  had  heard  of  these  treasures,  we  do  not  doubt. 
But  Stephaneschi  engages  us  to  moderate  the  report  of  these  riches  by 
throwing  light  upon  the  fact  of  the  offerings.  We  regret  very  much 
that  the  ignorance  of  the  scribe,  or  the  errors  of  the  manuscript,  did 
not  allow  the  editors  of  Lyons  to  publish  the  treatise  composed  by 
this  author  on  the  Jubilee,  in  a  manner  more  favorable  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  text.  Here  are  his  words:  "  Et  nequicquam  intactum 
"  oblivioni  deseratur  temporalis  Basilica  emolumenti,  aliquod  devo- 

31  De  Jubil,  anno,  cap.  V.  Max  Biblioth,  Patruin,  Lyons,  Tom.  XXV. 


526  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

"  tionis  signum  accreverit.  Namque  quae  celeberrima  toto  terrarum 
"  orbe  altaria  singulis  jamdudum  annis  ex  peregrinantium  oblatis 
"  Apostolorum  principis  florinorum  auri  XXX.  m.  IIII.  c.  V.  flori- 
"norum  ....  auferebant  millia  triginta  principis  circiter  annum, 
"  et  viginta  millia  doctoris  hoc  centesimo  retulere,  non  ex  amgnis 
"  auri  vel  argenti  donis,  sed  ex  usualis  monetae  provinciae  cujusque 
"  minutiis,  licet  non  omnium  oblationes  pressura  vel  paupertate 
"  praepediente  injectae  sint,  devote  oblata,  devote  dispensantur  castris 
"  casalibus,  praediis,  ex  ea  pecunia,  ipso  summo  pontifice  jubente  ad 
"  jus  et  proprietatem  Basilicarum  comparandis,  ac  deinde  ex  ipsorum 
"  reditibus  divinis,  Apostolorumque  augendis  cultibus  officiisque  .... 
"  Erubescant  itaque  eo  vehemtius  nostri  temporis  reges,  quod  se  a 
"  modicis  personarum  laboribus  numerunque  donis  superatos  norunt, 
"  qui  nequaquam  primitias  gentium  reges  Magos  imitari,  non  in- 
"  f antem,  sed  ad  dexteram  Dei  patris  sedentem  Jesum,  in  ejus  Apos- 
"  tolos  visere,  sibique  offerre  munera  venire.  Heu !  illis  ecclesiarum 
"  exigere  decimas  ut  paulatim  Deo  ab  attavis  concessa  nanciscantur 
"sat  est,  sicque  parentum,  de  quibus  gloriantur  gesta  dum  ab  eis 
deviant,  ignominia  sunt  .  .  .  ." 

Not  wishing  then  to  omit  the  temporal  advantages  which  the 
basilicas  would  receive  from  the  Jubilee,  Stephaneschi  assures  us 
that  the  offerings  made  at  the  altars  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul  amounted 
each  year  to  about  30,405  florins,  and  that  in  the  Jubilee  year,  if  this 
meaning  is  given  to  the  words  "  hoc  centesimo"  there  was  given  at  the 
altar  of  St.  Peter  30,000  and  at  that  of  St.  Paul  20,000,  so  that  adding 
to  the  annual  30,000  florins  the  50,000  received  during  the  Jubilee  we 
arrive  at  a  total  of  80,000. 32  Stephaneschi  remarks  that  poverty 
prevented  some  from  offering  anything,  (pressura  vel  paupertate 
praepediente),  and  that  these  thousands  of  florins  were  not  of  gold  or 
silver,  but  the  small  coins  in  use  in  each  province :  "  Non  ex  magnis 
"  auri  vel  argenti  donis,  sed  ex  usualis  monetae  provinciae  cujusqne 
minutiis."  In  reducing  then  these  florins  into  small  coins,  one  easily 
understands  how  Ventura  saw  this  heap  of  money  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar,  and  the  two  clerics  who  were  engaged  night  and  day  in  collect- 
ing this  mass  of  small  coins. 

The  Pope  used  all  this  money  to  increase  the  revenue  of  the 
Basilicas  and  for  the  splendor  of  divine  worship.  The  parcimony 
of  the  kings  who  were  not  ashamed  to  allow  themselves  to  be  out- 
done in  generosity  and  piety  by  the  common  people,  shows  us  that 
the  invitation  of  the  Pope  to  the  indulgences,  being  entertained  by 
the  masses  found  no  echo  in  the  royal  courts;  an  evident  sign  that 
the  venerable  and  mystical  authority  of  the  Pontificate  had  already 
begun  to  lose  its  life  in  the  heart  of  those  who  were  making  against 
it  a  tactical  war,  but  one  destructive  beyond  measure. 

'"This  sum  changed  into  English  money  amounts  to  about    £40,000. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  527 

DOCUMENT  (2F). 

LETTER  OF  BONIFACE   TO   CHARLES   II  REPROVING  HIM   FOR  HIS  IMPUDENCE. 

Carolo  Regi  Siciliae  illustri. 

Actus  tuos  praeteritos  recensentes,  et  recolentes  tractatus,  quos  in 
tuis  agendis  interdum  hactenus  tenuisti,  de  iis,  quos  tenes,  vel  tenebis 
in  antea,  merito  formidamus.  Nee  sine  ratione  timemus:  non  enim 
excidit  a  nostra  memoria  qualiter,  dum  essemus  in  minori  officio 
constituti  nos  et  venerabilis  frater  noster  Gerardus  episcopus  Sabin- 
ensis  in  adjutorium  tuum  missi,  quando  tempore  felicis  recordationis 
Nicolai  Papae  IV.  praedecessoris  nostri  obsidebatur  Cajeta,  tibique 
vicinis  nobis  irrequisitis  et  insciis,  tractasti  cum  charissimo  in 
Christo  filio  nostro  Jacobo,  nunc  Rege  Aragonum,  et  perfecisti 
tractatum;  contemptis  in  hoc  non  soluna  nobis  et  dicto  episcopo  sed 
et  Romana  Ecclesia  matre  tua. 

Non  sumus  obliti  quam  provides,  quam  discretos  et  utiles  habuisti 
et  firmasti  tractatus  cum  praefato  Jacobo:  tune  hoste  praedictae 
Ecclesiae  atque  tuo,  pro  tua  et  tuorum  liberatione  natorum.  Ex 
quibus,  et  aliis  quae  memoriter  retinemus,  experientia  longa  didici- 
mus,  quod  te  proprio  in  arduis  innitente  tibi  male  successit,  et  hoc 
processus  habiti  circa  missionem  dilecti  filii  Philippi  Tarantini 
principis  nati  tui,  in  Siciliam  nuper  missi,  manifeste  declarant.  Et 
utinam  ex  erroribus  habitis  in  praemissis  tu  solus  detrimenta  sentires, 
et  nos  et  Ecclesia  supradicta,  et  Christianitas  non  sentiremus  ex 
talibus  nocumenta.  Quae  prudentia,  fill,  fuit;  quam  reverentiam  ad 
nos,  et  dictam  ecclesiam  habuisti,  si,  prout  accepimus,  nuper  in 
quodam  galione  Frederici  nostri  hostis  ac  tui  nuntios  recepisti,  ip- 
sosque  remiseris,  quid  petierint  quidve  responderis  ad  nostram  no- 
titiam  non  perducto? 

Volentes  igitur  futuris  ex  tua  praeceptiatione  et  subitatione  peri- 
culis  obviare,  celsitudinem  tuam  monemus  et  hortamur  attente,  per 
apostolica  scripta  tibi  sub  debito  fidelitatis,  quo  nobis  et  Ecclesiae 
Romanae  teneris,  et  excommunicationis  poenaa  quam,  si  secus 
feceris,  te  incurrere  volumus  ipso  facto,  districte  praecipiendo  man- 
dantes,  quatenus  cum  Frederico  praedicto,  vel  ejus  nuntiis  nullum 
tratatum  habitum,  vel  habendum  firmare,  aut  execution!  mandare 
praesumas  absque  nostro  speciali  consensu,  per  nostras  bullatas  literas 
apparente.  Nos  enim  quicquid  secus  feceris  ex  nunc  omnino  cas- 
samus,  et  cassum  et  irritum  decernimus  et  inane. 

Caeterum  pro  certo  tenere  te  volumus,  quod  si  te  aliter,  quam 
hactenus  feceris,  nostris  beneplacitis,  non  coaptes;  et  si  salubria 
mandata  nostra  contemnas,  quantumcumque  pro  tuis  relevandis  oneri- 
bus,  et  periculis  evitandis  innumerabiles  quasi  effuderimus  pecuniae 
quantitates,  exquiremus  vias  et  modos,  per  quos,  quamvis  cum  danno 
tuo  pax  nobis  cum  praefato  hoste  proveniat,  ne  diutius  Terra  Sancta 
in  manibus  hostium  fidei  teneatur.  Dat,  Later,  v.  id.  januarii  anno  v. 


528  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


DOCUMENT  (2G). 

LETTER  OP  BONIFACE  TO  CARDINAL  ACQUASPARTA  CHARGING  HIM  TO  PACIFY 

FLORENCE. 

Considerantes  attentius,  et  infra  claustra  pectoris  meditatione 
solicita  revolventes,  quod  nefanda  hostis  antiqui  nequitia,  qui  semper 
quaerit  ut  noceat,  semper  in  circuitu  ambulat  ut  offendat,  in  plerisque 
locis  Lombardiae,  Tusciae,  et  Romandiolae  provinciarum ;  Aquilejen- 
sis,  et  Gradensis  patriarchatuum,  Ravennatis,  Mediolanensis,  Januen- 
sis,  et  Pisani  archiepiscopatuum,  Marchiae  Tervisinae,  Venetiarum, 
Bononiensis,  et  Ferrariensis  civitatum,  earumque  dioecesum  et  ter- 
ritoriorum,  locisque  vicinis  eisdem,  discordiarum  zizaniam  seruit, 
ingessit  lites,  commovit  scandala,  odia  suscitavit;  grandi  utique  desi- 
derio  ducimur,  curisque  multimodis  excitamur,  ut  malis  hujusmodi, 
molestis  quamplurimum  votis  nostris,  efficacibus  et  opportunis  reme- 
diis  obvietur;  et  ecclesiasticis,  religiosis,  saecularibusque  personis, 
in  partibus  locisque  degentibus  memoratis,  Apostolicae  sedis  benigna 
visitatione  praeventis,  deformata  inibi  providam  reformationem  re- 
cipiant,  prava  et  noxia  procul  penitus  profligentur. 

Attendentes  igitur  quod  gratiarum  dator  Altissimus  personam  tuam 
scientiae  magnitudine,  providentiae  dono,  discretionis  virtute,  in- 
dustriae  munere,  circumspectionis  gratia,  et  aliarum  virtutum  titulis 
decoravit,  humeros  tuos  fortitudinis  robore  muniendo,  ut  onera 
grandia  facilius  supportares;  plenam  quoque,  immo  plenissimam  de 
tuis  laudabilibus  meritis  fiduciam  obtinentes,  licet  apud  sedem  Apos- 
tolicam  ex  tui  maturitate  consilii  tua  non  modicum  opportuna  prae- 
sentia  dignoscatur,  nosque  ilia  careamus  inviti;  te  tamen  ob  honorem 
et  exaltationem  Ecclesiae,  ac  reformationem,  et  directionem  necessar- 
ias,  ac  desideratam  quietem  partium  praedictarum,  de  fratrum  nos- 
trorum  consilio  illuc  tamquam  pacis  angelum  duximus  destinandum; 
fraternitati  tuae  in  provinciis,  patriarchatibus,  archiepiscopatibus 
nee  non  civitatibus  memoratis,  earumque  dioecesibus,  districtibus,  ac 
territoriis,  et  locis,  ac  partibus  supradictis  plenae  legationis  officium 
committentes,  ut  evellas  et  destruas,  dissipes  et  disperdas,  aedifices 
et  plantes,  ac  facias  auctoritate  nostra  quaecumque  ad  honorem  Dei, 
prosperum  statum  partium  earumdem,  ac  reformationem  pacis  fidel- 
ium  videris  expedire,  etc.  Datum  Anagniae  x.  kal.  junii  anno  vi. 


DOCUMENT    (2H). 

LETTER  TO  THE  FRENCH  CLERGY  RELATIVE  TO  THE  APPEAL  OF  CHARLES  OF 

VALOIS. 

....  Ecce  quidem  fratres  et  filii,  non  latet  in  abditis,  sed  per 
diversos  orbis  angulos  innotescit,  qualiter  jam  fere  viginti  annorum 
spatio  quondam  Petrus  olim  Rex  Aragonum,  subdolus  nequitiae 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  529 

perpetrator;  et  subsequenter  diversis  temporibus  nati  ejus,  sibi  suc- 
cedentes  in  vitio  contra  nos  et  eandem  ecclesiam,  et  charissimum 
in  Christo  filium  nostrum  Carolum  Siciliae,  Regem  illustrem  insulam 
Siciliae  occuparunt  ac  tenuerunt,  et  adhuc  etiam  pro  majori  parte 
detinent  nequiter  occupatam.  Quarum  occupationis  et  detentionis 
occasione  et  causa  contigit  olim  perditio  Terrae  sanctae;  sed  nee  ei 
potuit  opportunum  ministrari  subsidium  de  partibus  cismarinis.  Et 
quamvis  inopinatis  auxiliis,  ac  insperatis  operibus,  illucescente  illi 
gratia  Salvatoris,  sit  ipsi  Terrae  Sanctae  via  recuperationis,  repara- 
tionis,  inhabitationis,  et  munitionis  civitatum  et  locorum  dudum  ibi- 
dem deperditorum,  aperta;  tamen  ob  induratam  antiquatae  jam 
rebellionis  nequitiam  praedictorum  Siculorum  et  Frederici  nati 
praedicti  quondam  Petri  olim  Regis  Aragonum,  sub  cujus  devio  in 
tenebris  et  umbra  mortis  obdormiunt,  et  propter  alia  scandala  quae 
insurgunt,  praefata  mater  ecclesia  in  adhibendis  opportunis  eidem 
terrae  subsidiis  impeditur.  Status  insuper  Tusciae  impetitur  ad- 
modum  fluctibus  scandalorum :  civitates,  loca,  et  incolae  ipsi  matri 
ecclesiae  subjecta  rebellant,  nequitiae  venena  fundentia  et  laborantia 
ingratitudinis  vitio  contra  earn:  et  nisi  eorum  insolentiae  compes- 
cantur,  invalescent  plurimum  ribelliones  ipsorum,  et  periculose  suc- 
crescent. 

Et  ideo  non  solum  de  prope,  sed  etiam  de  longe  sub  spe  divinae 
potentiae  ad  obviandum  tot  fluctibus  totque  malis,  et  periculis  re- 
sistendum,  et  ad  rebellantium  superbiam  edomandam  auxilium,  juva- 
men,  et  fortitudinem  invocare  compulsi,  dilectum  filium  nobilem 
virum  Carolum  comitem  Andegavensem,  clarae  memoriae  Philippi 
Regis  Francorum  natum  virum  utique  nobilitatis  et  generis  excel- 
lentia  praefulgentem,  potentia  praeditum,  exercitatum  in  armis,  et 
ecclesiae  praefatae  devotum,  per  quern  speramus  et  credimus,  honores 
et  commoda  ipsius  ecclesiae  in  hac  parte  posse  viriliter,  potenter,  et 
feliciter  promoveri,  et  satisfieri  utiliter  votis  nostris ;  advocare  provid- 
imus  in  opportunum  auxilium  et  juvamen  ipsius  ecclesiae  matris 
suae,  ordinato  jam,  ut  decuit,  cum  eodem,  ut  usque  ad  festum  puri- 
ficationis  B.  Virginis  proximo  futurum  iter  arripiat  cum  magna  et 
honorabili  armatorum,  militum  et  equitum  comitiva  venturus  conti- 
nuatis  dietis,  et  intraturus  personaliter  in  Italiam,  ac  mansurus  in 
ipsius  Italiae  provinciis  sive  locis,  de  quibus  Apostolica  sedes  duxerit 
ordinandum:  ut  ad  vindictam  malefactorum,  laudem  vero  bonorum 
adventus  et  mora  ejus  Domino  auxiliante  persistant  et  tranquillato 
statu  Siciliae,  aliisque  Italiae  rebellibus  subjugatis,  ac  ad  nostra,  et 
dictae  sedis  mandata  redactis,  de  opportune  ipsius  Terrae  Sanctae 
succursu  possit  utilius  et  efficacius  provider!,  et  universalis  occident- 
alis  ecclesiae  sabbatum  procuretur,  etc.  Dat.  Laterani  11.  kal.  decem- 
bris  anno  vL 


530  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


DOCUMENT  (21). 

LETTER    TO    CARDINAL    ACQUASPARTA,    LEGATE    TO    RESTRAIN    CHARLES    OB1 

VALOIS. 

Venerabili  fratri  Portuensi  episcopo. 

Cum  nobilis  provincia  Tusciae  multis  foret  confossa  doloribus, 
guerrarum  consitata  dissidiis,  civilibus  bellis  licentiae  laxatis  habenis, 
ac  deformata  ruinis,  decuit  nos  ad  animarum,  corporum,  et  rerum 
vitanda  pericula  in  ipsa  prosequi  vias  pacificas,  et  ad  unitatem  re- 
ducere  discordantes,  ne  se  mutuo  lacerarent,  impeterent,  ac  moles- 
tarent  injuste:  ut  tarn  nobilis  tantaque  provincia  in  tabernaculis 
fiduciae  requiesceret,  et  in  pacis  dulcedine  habitaret;  et  per  hoc  in  ea 
purgaretur  haeretica  pravitas,  cohiberetur  praedonum  audacia,  honor- 
aretur  sancta  Romana  ecclesia,  et  fidelium  devotio  nutriretur.  Ad 
nos  namque  relatio  fide  digna  perduxerat,  quod  nonnulli  de  dicta 
provincia  cum  malitiae  suae  consciis  atque  consortibus  habentes  de 
ipsius  turbatione  pruritum  malignitatis  suae,  in  favorem  nostrorum 
et  Apostolicae  sedis  rebellium  suos  illicitos  conatus  moliebantur  ex- 
tendere,  ut  non  cuiquam  sua  confirmaretur  justitia,  non  cuiquam 
status  suis  debitus  meritis  servaretur.  Undo  cum  fratribus  nostris 
habita  deliberatione  matura,  attendentes  quod  Romanum  vacat  im- 
perium,  cujus  ad  nos,  praesertim  hoc  tempore  pacifica  conservatio 
dignoscitur  pertinere;  dilectum  filium  nobilem  virum  Carolum  natum 
clarae  memoriae  Philippi  Regis  Francorum,  comitem  Andegavensem ; 
de  cujus  strenuitate,  armorum  experientia,  et  bonitate  confidimus; 
conservatorem  pacis  in  ea  parte  ipsius  Tusciae,  quae  praedicto  Im- 
perio  subjacet,  de  fratrum  eorumdem  consilio  duximus  deputandum. 
Qui  provinciam  ipsam  potenter  et  prudenter  ingressus,  hujusmodi 
commissum  sibi  paciariatus,  seu  conservandae  pacis  officium,  divina 
sibi  assistente  virtute,  coepit  laudabiliter  exercere:  ita  quod  devoti 
et  fideles  ecclesiae  saepedictae  de  ipsa  provincia  habere  poterunt, 
dante  Domino,  bonum  statum,  eruntque  prava  in  directa,  et  viae 
asperae  planabuntur.  Verum,  ut  haec  salubrius  et  efficacius  implean- 
tur  cum  quiete  ac  pace,  te  de  cujus  legalitate,  bonitate,  circumspec- 
tione,  et  experientia  matura  confidimus,  ad  partes  easdem  providimus 
destinare,  in  eadem  provincia  nostra  tibi  auctoritate  concessa;  per 
cujus  dictus  comes  favorem  protectus,  directus  consilio,  et  maturitate 
adjutus,  commissum  sibi  officium,  juxta  beneplacitum  divinum  et 
nostrum,  cum  moderatione  ac  mensura  tranquillius  et  utilius  possit 
debitae  executioni  mandare. 

Quocirca  fraternitatem  tuam  rogamus,  monemus,  et  hortamur  at- 
tente,  per  apostolica  tibi  scripta  amandantes,  quatenus  celeriter  te 
accingens,  et  ad  partes  illas  personaliter  festinus  accedas  et  ad  ea, 
quae  comiti  memorato  commissimus,  efficaciter  promovenda  et  lauda- 
biliter consumanda  in  provincia  saepedicta  per  te  et  alios,  de  quibus 
expedire  videris,  ipsum  solerter  inducas,  et  tarn  tu  quam  ipse  vestra 
studia  convertatis  ad  seminandum  in  ea  semen  charitatis,  et  pacis; 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  531 

ut  sedatis  guerrarum  et  dissensionum  turbinibus,  qui  nimis  invaluer- 
unt  ibidem,  provincia  ipsa  tot  impulsibus  agitata  quasi  post  noctis 
tenebras  floridum  diei  lumen  aspiciat;  post  glaciei  frigus  hyemis 
aurea  sibi  tempora  et  serena  succedant,  in  quibus  afflicti  non  solum 
temporalem  laetitiam,  sed  aeternam  auctore  Domino  consequantur, 
contradictores  et  rebelles  auctoritate  nostra  per  te,  vel  per  alium,  seu 
alios  per  spirituales  poenas,  appellatione  postposita,  compescendo,  etc. 
Datum  Laterani  vi.  non.  decembris  anno  vii. 


DOCUMENT    (2K). 

LETTER  OF  BONIFACE  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  REGARDING  THE  ARCHBISHOPRIC  OF 
NARBONNE  AND  THE  COUNTY   OF   MAGUELONNE. 

Recordare,  Eex  inclyte,  progenitorum  tuorum  actus  strenuos,  meri- 
taque  praeclara  intuere,  ac  respice  quod  Deus  regnantium  honor  et 
gloria  beatum  Ludovicum  arum  tuum  Regibus  dedit  in  speculum,  et 
populis  in  exemplum,  quae  ipsius  nepos,  quasi  charissimus  filius  imi- 
teris;  prudenter  attendens,  quod  tantam  habebat  conscientiae  puri- 
tatem,  quod  non  solum  scienter,  sed  nee  ignoranter  dispendium  aliis 
volebat  inferre,  causam  quam  ignorabat  adinstar  sancti  Job  dili- 
gentius  investigans.  Unde  cum  super  comitatu  Mergoglii  Maga- 
lonensis  diocesis  nonulla  auribus  instillarentur  ipsius,  in  tantum  ut 
ad  quern  pertineret  comitatus  hujusmodi  haesitaret;  nolens  ex 
abrupto  procedere,  vel  incerto  felicis  recordationis  dementis  Papae 
IV.  praedecessoris  nostri,  quern  super  hoc  putabat  habere  notitiam, 
requisivit  consilium,  tarn  humiliter  quam  prudenter,  sicut  ex  tenore 
literarum  praedecessoris  ejusdem,  quem  praesentibus  tibi  mittimus 
interclusum,  colligere  poteris  evidenter.  Post  cujus  praedecessoris 
Clementis  responsum  Magalonensis  ecclesia  a  regalium  exactionibus 
conquievit,  quae  ab  olim  tenuit  et  tenet  in  feudum  ab  Apostolica 
sede  comitatum  eumdem,  prout  constat  ex  vetustissimis  documentis, 
et  ex  iis,  quae  in  ejusdem  sedis  conservantur  archivio,  ac  ex  praedeces- 
sorum  nostrorum  Romanorum  Pontificum  literis,  quae  de  dicto  comi- 
tatu faciunt  mentionem.  Quapropter  dolemus  non  immerito,  et  tur- 
bamur,  si  relatibus  facta  respondeant,  quod  sicut  accepimus,  officiales 
tui  venerabilem  fratrem  nostrum  Gerardum  episcopum,  et  dilectum 
filium  capitulum  Magalonense  super  comitatu  praedicto,  et  homini- 
bus  comitatus,  immo  nos  et  Apostolican  sedem  gravant,  impetunt, 
et  molestant. 

Cum  igitur  Deus  per  suam  misericordiam,  non  sine  multimodis 
nostris  et  sedis  ejusdem  praesidiis,  adeo  dilataverit  funiculos  et 
limites  regni  tui  juriumque  tuorum,  ut  nee  tibi  expediat  ad  occu- 
panda  bona  aliorum  et  jura;  praesertim  nostra  et  praedictae  sedis,  ac 
Magalonensis  ecclesiae  memoratae,  super  comitatu  praefato,  qui  tene- 
tur  a  nobis  et  sede  praedicta,  manus  occupatrices  extendere;  cir- 
cumspectionem  regiam  tenore  praesentium  hortamur  et  rogamus  at- 
tente,  tibique  paternis  affectibus  salubriter  suademus,  ut  senescallis, 


532  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

officialibus,  et  balivis  tuis  districte  praecipias,  quod  de  caetero  a  dic- 
torum  episcopi  et  capituli  ac  vassallorum  super  dicto  comitatu  mo- 
lestatione  desistant :  exhortationes  et  preces  nostras  hujusmodi  sic 
efficaciter  impleturus,  quod  a  Deo  premium  consequaris,  nobisque  et 
sanctae  Eomanae  Ecclesiae  matri  tuae,  te  praecipuum  filium  re- 
praesentes,  quicquid  super  hoc  faciendum  duxeris  nobis  tuis  literis 
responsurus. 

Ad  haec  pf  aemissis  adiicitur  grandis  injuria,  et  amara  querela,  qua 
ad  nostrum  pervenit  auditum,  quod  nobilis  vir  Amalricus  vicecomes 
Narbonae,  antiquorum  progenitorum  suorum,  qui  ecclesiam  Narbo- 
nensem  et  alias  eidem  subjectas,  quantum  et  quamdiu  potuerunt,  mul- 
tipliciter  impugnarunt,  vestigiis  inhaerens  pestiferis;  jurisdictionem 
et  omnia,  quae  dicta  Narbonensis  ecclesia  teneat  vel  habeat  in  civitate 
ac  burbo  Narbonae  et  pertinentiis  eorumdem,  et  quae  indubitanter 
tenebat,  ac  tenere  debebat  in  feudum  ab  eadem  ecclesia  Narbonensi ; 
quaeve  parentes  sui  a  centum  fere  annis  citra  continue  archiepis- 
copis,  qui  pro  tempore  ipsi  ecclesiae  praefuerunt,  et  pater  istius  vice- 
comitis  eodem  praesente,  sciente,  et  intelligente  Narbonensi  arch- 
iepiscopo,  qui  nunc  praeest,  cum  sacramento  fidelitatis  et  homagio, 
praesente  quoque  multitudine  hominum,  clericorum  et  laicorum,  no- 
bilium  et  ignobilium  copiosa,  ante  majus  altare  in  ipsa  ecclesia  Nar- 
bonensi, ut  moris  erat  praedecessorum  eorumdem,  publice  recognov- 
erant  a  dictis  archiepiscopo  et  ecclesia  Narbonensi,  se  tenere  in  feu- 
dum, ut  indubitatis  constat  Regum  Franciae  praedecessorum  tuorum 
privilegiis,  vicecomitum  Narbonensium  literis  eorumdem  vicecomi- 
tum  sigillis  signatis,  et  aliis  etiam  luce  clarioribus  documentis,  et 
haec  ipse  idem  vicecomes  procuratorio  nomine  patris  sui,  dum  vive- 
bat,  in  tua  curia  fuit  manifesto  confessus;  a  paucis  citra  temporibus 
maligno  ductus  spiritu,  in  magnum  contemptum,  praejudicium  et 
injuriam  non  solum  praefatae  Narbonensis  ecclesiae,  verum  etiam 
aliarum  ecclesiarum  totius  provinciae  Narbonensis,  a  te  recognovit  in 
feudum:  et  in  damnationis  suae  cumulum,  et  evidentius  saepedictate 
Narbonensis  ecclesiae  nocumentum,  non  solum  ea  a  te,  ut  praedicitur, 
recognovit;  sed  ut  Gallicano  utamur  vocabulo,  advocavit,  immo  etiam 
ea  a  dicto  archiepiscopo,  et  ecclesia  Narbonensi  deavocavit  expresse. 
Fili  charissime,  talia  mentem  nostram  amaricant,  et  perturbant,  et 
ut  ad  apponenda  remedia  convertamur,  excitant  et  instigant:  nee 
possumus,  nee  debemus  tarn  grandia  detri  menta  ac  exheredationem 
quandam  Narbonensis  ecclesiae  supradictae  sub  dissimulatione  tran- 
sire :  nee  talia  pati  debuerat  dignitatis  Regiae  rectitude,  et  prudentia 
circumspecta.  Ab  olim  ecclesia,  Regum  lactata  mamillis,  excrevit  in 
potestatem,  dignitatem,  libertatem,  celsitudinem,  et  gloriam  secu- 
lorum:  nunc,  proh  dolor!  a  regibus  eorumque  officialibus  premitur, 
ancillatur,  spernitur,  et  multipliciter  expugnatur. 

Haec,  fili,  tolerando  in  ecclesiis  regni  tui,  habes  merito  formidare, 
quod  ulcisetur  haec  Deus  judicii  dominus,  et  Rex  regum,  ejusque 
vicarius  finaliter  non  tacebit,  ne  forsitan  audiat:  Canis  mutus  latrare 
non  valens;  qui  etsi  patienter  ad  tempus  expectet,  ut  locus  miseri- 
cordiae  non  claudatur,  tandem  exurget  ad  vindictam  malefactorum, 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  533 

laudem  vero  bonorum.  Utinam  saperes  et  intelligeres,  et  novissima 
provideres,  ac  plene  discuteres  immissiones,  quae  quasi  per  malos 
angelos  tibi  fiunt  et  susurronibus,  ac  pravis  consilariis  facilem  non 
praeberes  auditum ;  et  solerter  cognosceres,  quod  quasi  mali  prophetae, 
loquentes  placentia,  vident  tibi  falsa  et  stulta,  assumptiones  falsas  et 
ejectiones;  nee  attendunt,  quod  inter  naturam  et  gloriam  est  media 
gratia,  sine  qua  a  prima  ad  tertiam  non  transitur.  Caveas  igitur  dili- 
genter,  ne  ad  stultum  finem  consilia  talium,  qui  adulatione  decipiunt 
te,  deducant. 

Nos  nibilominus,  ne  tantum  dispen3ium  memoratae  Narbonensis 
Ecclesiae  transeat  impunitum,  neve  aliis  praebeatur  exemplum  tarn 
nefanda  similia  attentandi;  contra  Almaricum  ipsum  et  alios,  quos 
negotium  istud  contingit,  ex  officio  nostro  et  de  apostolicae  plenitudine 
potestatis  deliberavimus  procedere  summarie,  de  piano  sine  strepitu 
et  figura  judicii,  prout  justitia  exiget,  et  videbimus  expedite;  ip- 
sumque  Almaricum  mandamus  sub  certa  forma  ad  nostram  praesen- 
tiam  evocari.  Caeterum  excellentiam  regiam  volumus  non  latere, 
quod  ex  quo  stimulamur  in  tantum,  nee  blandimenta  proficiunt,  nee 
corriguntur  errata;  literas  nostras,  quas  super  talibus  et  similibus 
tibi  dirigimus,  jam  ordinavimus  regestrari  ad  perpetuam  rei  memo- 
riam.  Quis  autem  ex  eis  et  aliis,  necnon  ex  illis,  quae  nuperrime  per 
solemnes  nuntios  tibi  significanda  decrevimus,  subsequetur,  effectus, 
novit  ille,  qui  secretorum  est  cognitor,  et  praescius  futurorum.  Dat. 
Anagniae  xv.  kal.  augusti  anno  vi. 


DOCUMENT    (2L). 

LETTER   TO   PHILIP   THE   FAIR,  ANNEXED   TO   THE   BULL   AUSCULTA. 

Carissimo  in  Christo  filio  Philippo  Regi  Eranciae  illustri. 

Nuper  ex  rationabilibus  causis  moti,  praesertim  ad  relevanda  grav- 
amina, et  quasi  importabilia  onera  ecclesiarum,  praelatorum,  et  ec- 
clesiasticarum  personarum,  regularium  et  saecularium,  regni  tui, 
literas  infrascripti  tenoris  fieri  fecimus,  et  bulla  nostra  bullari, 
quarum  tenorem  ad  tuam  providimus  notitiam  praesentibus  deducen- 
dum.  Tenor  autem  talis  est,  Bonifacius,  etc.  ad  perpetuam  rei  me- 
moriam.  Salvator  mundi  etc.  ut  in  proxima  superiori  usque  in  finem 

Tu  igitur  sicut  filius  praedilectus  in  iis, 

quae  rationabiliter  et  pro  utilitate  publica  fecimus,  non  turberis : 
sed  ea  aequanimiter  toleres;  prudenter  attendens,  quia  ut  praemitti- 
tur,  terminum  assignamus,  quo  privilegia,  indulgentiae,  gratiae,  et 
concessiones  praedictae,  nostro  conspectui  praesententur,  et  ad  nos- 
tram et  dictae  sedis  notitiam  deducantur,  ut  consideratis  ipsis  et 
visis  provider!  possit,  si  dicta  suspensio  fuerit  in  aliquo  vel  aliquibus 
moderanda.  Datum  Laterani  non.  decembris  anno  vii. 

Bonifacius,  etc.  charissimo  in  Christo  filio  Philippo  Regi  Franciae 
illustri. 

Ausculta,  fili  charissime,  praecepta  patris,  et  ad  doctrinam  mag- 


534  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

istri,  qui  gerit  illius  vices  in  terris,  qui  solus  est  magister  et  domi- 
nus,  aurem  tui  cordis  inclina;  viscerosae  sanctae  matris  ecclesiae 

admonitionem  libenter  excipe,  et  cura  efficaciter  adimplere 

Ad  te  igitur  sermo  noster  dirigitur,  tibi  paternus  amor  exprimitur, 
et  dulcia  matris  ubera  exponuntur.  Campum  siquidem  militiae  hu- 
manae  mortalitatis  ingressus,  renatus  sacri  fonte  baptismatis,  re- 
nuntians  diabolo  et  pompis  ejus,  non  quasi  hospes  et  advena,  sed 
jam  domesticus  fidei  et  civis  sanctorum  eifectus,  ovile  dominicum 
intravisti,  colluctaturus  non  solum  contra  carnem  et  sanguinem,  sed 
etiam  contra  aereas  potestates,  mundique  rectores  praesentium  tene- 
brarum.  Sic  veri  Noe  es  arcam  ingressus,  extra  quam  nemo  sal- 
vatur,  catholicam  scilicet  Ecclesiam,  unam  columbam  immaculatam, 
unici  Christi  sponsam,  in  qua  Christi  vicarius  Petrique  successor 
primatum  noscitur  obtinere:  qui  sibi  collatis  clavibus  regni  coelorum, 
judex  a  Deo  vivorum,  et  mortuorum  constitutus  agnoscitur;  ad  quern, 
sedentem  in  judicii  solio,  dissipare  pertinet  suo  intuitu  omne  malum. 
Hujus  profecto  sponsae  quae  de  coelo  descendit  a  Deo  parata  sicut 
sponsa  ornata  viro  suo,  Romanus  Pontifex  caput  existit:  nee  habet 
plura  capita  monstruose,  cum  sit  sine  macula,  sine  ruga,  nee  habens 
aliquod  inhonestum 

Ad  haec,  ne  Terrae  sanctae  negotium,  quod  nostris  et  tuis  et 
aliorum  fidelium  debet  charius  insidere  praecordiis,  nos  putes  obliv- 
ioni  dedisse  memorare,  fili,  et  discito,  quod  progenitores  tui  Christian- 
issimi  principes,  quorum  debes  laudanda  vestigia  solerti  studio,  et 
claris  operibus  imitari,  exposuerunt  olim  personas  et  bona  in  sub- 
sidium  dictae  terrae.  Sed  Saracenorum  invalescente  perfidia  Chris- 

tianorum  ac Tua  et  aliorum  Regum  et  principum 

devotione  solita  tepescente,  terra  eadem  tuis  utique  temporibus,  heu! 
deperdita  noscitur  et  prostrata.  Quis  itaque  canticum  Domini  can- 
tat  in  ea?  Quis  assurgit  in  ejus  subsidium  et  recuperationis  oppor- 
tunae  juvamen  adversus  impios  Saracenos,  malignantes  et  operantes 
iniquitatem,  ac  debacchantes  in  ilia  ?  Ad  ejus  quippe  succursum 
arma  bellica  periisse  videntur,  et  abjecti  sunt  clypei  fortium;  qui 
contra  hostes  fidei  dimicare  solebant:  enses  et  gladii  evaginati  in 
domesticos  fidei,  et  saeviunt  in  effusionem  sanguinis  Christiani :  et 
nisi  a  populo  Dei  domesticae  insolentiae  succidantur,  et  pax  ei  proven- 
iat  salutaris  terra  illi,  foedata  actibus  malignorum,  a  periculo  desola- 
tionis  et  miseriae  per  ejusdem  populi  ministerium  non  resurget. 

Si  haec  et  similia  iis  benevola  mente  revolvas,  invenies  quod  ob- 
scuratum  est  aurum,  et  est  color  optimus  immutatus.  An  non  ig- 
nominia  et  confusio  magna  tibi  et  aliis  Regibus  et  principibus  Chris- 
tianis  adesse  dignoscitur,  quod  versa  est  ad  alienos  hereditas  Jesu 
Christi,  et  sepulcrum  ejus  ad  extraneos  devolutum?  Qualem  ergo 
retributionis  gratiam  merebuntur  apud  Dominum  Reges  et  principes, 
et  coeteri  Christiani,  in  quibus  terra  quaerit  respirare  praedicta; 
sed  non  est  qui  sustentet  earn  ex  omnibus  filiis,  quos  genuit  ipse  Deus, 
nee  est  qui  supponat  manum  ex  omnibus  quos  nutrivit  ?  Clamat  enim 
ad  Dei  filios  civitas  Jerusalem,  et  suas  exponit  angustias,  et  in  reme- 
dium  doloris  ejus  filiorum  Dei  implorat  affectus.  Si  ergo  filius  Dei 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  535 

es,  dolores  ejus  excipias,  tristare  et  dole  cum  ipso,  si  diligis  bonum 
ejus.  Tartari  quidem,  pagani,  et  alii  infideles  eidem  terrae  succur- 
runt,  et  ei  non  subveniunt  in  ea  Christi  sanguine  pretioso  redempti; 
nee  est  qui  consoletur  earn  ex  omnibus  charis  ejus.  Hoc  a  dissidiis 
privatis  obvenit,  dum  utilitas  publica  cupiditatis  ardore  consumitur, 
nonnullis  quae  sunt  sua  quaerentibus,  non  quae  Christi,  quorum  pec- 
cata  Deus  ultionum  dominus  non  solum  in  ipsis  vindicat,  sed  etiam 
in  progenies  eorumdem. 

Tremenda  sunt  itaque  Dei  judicia  et  timenda,  ante  quae  non  par- 
entes  justitiam  damnabuntur:  Justus  autem  de  angustia  liberabitur, 
et  cadet  impius  in  laqueum,  quern  tetendit.  Tu  vero,  fili,  communiens 
in  tribus  temporibus  vitam  tuam,  ordinando  praesentia,  et  commem- 
orando  praeterita,  et  providendo  futura,  sic  te  praepares  in  praemis- 
sis  .  .  .  .  ut  in  praesenti  divinam  gratiam,  et  in  future  salvationis 
et  retributionis  aeternae  gloriam  merearis.  Datum  Laterani  non. 
decembris  ann.  vii. 


DOCUMENT  (2M). 

ON  THE  WORKS  OF  EGIDIDS  COLONNA. 

The  work  "  de  Regia  Potestate  et  Papali,"  was  published  in  Paris 
in  1506,  in  one  volume  quarto;  Goldasto33  was  vaunted  wrongfully  as 
having  first  edited  it.  That  de  Regimine  Principum  was  also  trans- 
lated into  Italian  by  Deusdedit  Florentine;  this  translation  on 
parchment  manuscript  exists  in  the  Magliabecchi  library.34  At  the 
end  of  it  we  read :  "  Here  ends  the  book  of  the  government  of  kings 
"  and  princes,  which  friar  Egidius  of  Rome,  of  the  order  of  St.  Aug- 
"  ustine,  composed.  This  book  has  been  translated,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  God,  from  the  Latin  into  French  by  Messer  Ari  de  Granci, 
"by  the  order  of  the  noble  King  of  France,  and  I  have  translated 
"  it  from  the  French  into  the  Tuscan,  neither  adding  nor  suppressing 
"  one  word.  Blessed  be  Jesus  Christ.  Done  and  completed  this  16th 
"  day  of  June  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  MCCLXXXVIII."  There  is 
also  another  copy,  but  without  the  name  of  the  translator  in  the 
Riccardi  library.35 

Cave  has  prepared  a  most  exact  catalogue  of  the  works  of  Friar 
Egidius.  The  latter  having  studied  closely  the  physics  of  Aristotle 
on  which  he  has  also  commented,  wrote  a  book  entitled  "  De  forma- 
"  tione  corporis  Jiumani."  Since  the  occasion  is  given  us,  we  will 
remark  here  that  Friar  Egidius  is  also  the  author  of  another  work 
mentioned  in  the  learned  preface  to  the  life  of  Ambrose  Traversari 
written  by  the  Abbe  Mehus.36  It  is  a  commentary  on  the  verses  of 

33 Monarchiae,  Tom.  II,  page  107.  "Class  XXX,  cod.  I  in  folio. 

**N.  IV,  Num.  XXII.  See  the  life  of  Ambrose  Traversari,  Tom.  I, 
page  159.  "Page  124. 


536  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

Guido  Cavalcante.  What  was  the  subject  of  this  poem  of  Caval- 
cante?  Philip  Villani  in  his  lives  of  the  illustrious  men  of  Flor- 
ence, a  precious  manuscript  in  the  Medici-laurenti  library,  discours- 
ing on  Guido  Cavalcante,  informs  us  that,  Egidius  Colonna,  a  Ro- 
man, an  eminent  philosopher,  commented  on  his  song.  "  This  Guido," 
says  he,  "  having  written  a  very  long  and  a  most  profound  disserta- 
"  tion  on  the  nature,  the  motions,  the  affections,  and  the  passions  of 
"  popular  love,  by  which  through  natural  instinct  we  are  led  to  love 
"  the  female  sex,  he  composed  an  elegant  and  a  delightful  song  in 
"  which  he  introduces  like  a  philosopher  the  most  ingenious  and 
"  novel  thoughts.  Struck  by  the  perfection  of  this  treatise,  by  the 
"  the  grace  of  its  conception,  Dino  de  Garbo,  whom  I  mentioned  be- 
"  fore,  Egidius  Colonna,  a  Roman,  an  eminent  philosopher,  and 
"  Hugh  de  Corno,  inferior  to  none  of  them,  deigned  to  comment  on 
"  it." 


DOCUMENT  (2N). 

LETTER    TO    THE    CLERGY    OF    FRANCE,    ANNEXED    TO    THE    BULL    "  UNAM 

SANCTAM." 

Verba  delirantis  filiae,  quantumcumque  desideriis  maternis  infesta, 
quantavis  enormitate  foedata,  nequeunt  puritatem  inficere  piae  mat- 
ris,  et  affectum  in  filiationis  odium  provocare  maternum :  cum  in  ipsa 
miseratione  amor  inveniatur  maternalis,  qui  licet  de  miseratione 
doleat,  naturae  legibus  compatiendo  filiis,  in  ipsa  miseria  consolatur. 
Sane  conturbata  sunt  universa  ecclesiae  pia  praecordia  in  auditu 
verborum,  quae  sub  fictae  consolationis  pallio,  recitando  quodam- 
modo  composita  sunt,  ut  credimus,  nomine  praedilectae  filiae  ec- 
clesiae Gallicanae  in  matris  immaculatae  opprobrium  grande  malum, 
quasi  ab  amico  causam  quaereret  recedendi.  Sed  legitur  quod  frustra 
rete  jacitur  ante  oculos  pennatorum.  Ecce  collectis  ex  parlamento, 
Parisiis  convacto,  mendicais  suffragiis,  ne  ad  vocationem  sedis 
Apostolicae  venirent,  eorum  verborum  compositores  necessario  con- 
cludere  voluerunt,  damna  rerum,  et  minas  corporum  praecipue 
praetendendo.  Scimus  equidem  multorum  relatione  fidelium,  nee 
latet  Apostolicae  sedis  notitiam,  quae  et  quanta  fuerint  in  eadem 
concione  narrata,  et  maxime,  quae  Belial  Petrus  Mote  semividens, 
et  mente  totaliter  excaecatus,  et  quidam  alii  praedicaverint,  sangui- 
nem  sitientes.  Christian!,  qui  charissimum  Philippum  Francorum 
Regem  illustrem  trahere  nituntur  in  devium,  proh  dolor !  propinquum, 
cum  tantae  Christianitatis  sublimitas  erroneo  ducatu  submergitur, 
cui  ducatus  a  coecis  miserabiliter  ad  mentis  interitum,  nisi  ex  alto 
succurrat  divina  pietas,  propinquatur,  quod  amare  luget  mater  Ec- 
clesia,  circa  salutem  ejus  quaerens  remedium;  et  meditatione  solicita 
contra  tantae  majestatis  naufragium  querit  portum. 

Verum  vos,  fratres  et  filii,  si  professionis  vestrae  debitum  circum- 
spectis  considerationibus  attendatis,  cujus  venenosae  fictionis  sug- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  537 

gesto  incontemptum  tantae  matris  obedientiae  filialis  nervum  vide- 
mini  contundere,  ac  debitum  pervertere  statum  ordinis  clericalis: 
videmini  siquidem  secundum  dicta  eorum  spem  ponere  in  terrenis, 
si  timore  terrenorum  contemnitis  coelestia,  vel  seponitis  propter  ti- 
inorem  judicum,  Christi  jugum.  Multa  praeterea  superba,  iniqua,  et 
schismatica  in  eadem  fideli  concione  narrata  fuerunt  per  oratores 
ejusmodi,  per  quae  velle  videbantur  distrahere  unitatem  Ecclesiae, 
inconsutilem  tunicam  Domini  nostri  ...  In  vestram  verumtamen 
excusationem  advertimus,  qualiter  detractatores  praefati,  ut  coeptum 
venenum  aspidum  festinanter  evomerent,  in  corde  et  corde  loquentes 
aliqui  vix  inter  se  moras  loquendi  gerebant:  verum  praecipiti  in 
memento  temporis  responderunt  manna  dulcedinis,  et  venenum  as- 
pidis  infundentes  in  Ecclesiae  matris  opprobrium,  et  status  proprii 
detrimentum:  quia  si  verba  eorum  justo  librentur  examine,  eos  esse 
praelatos  non  indicant,  sed  indignos  quibuslibet  praelaturis;  nee 
digni  sunt  regere,  verum  non  immerito  corrigendi.  Restat  ut  collig- 
amus  ex  verbis,  quae  gesta  fuerunt  absque  nostra  scientia  machina- 
tionibus  venenosis,  ut  et  vos  fictis  coloribus  ab  unione  universalis  Ec- 
clesiae abducerent  nequiter,  vosque  contra  nos,  quos  iniquitatis  eo- 
rum volebant  habere  complices,  provocarent.  Sed  in  vanum  labo- 
rant,  et  deficient  iniquo  scrutantes  scrutinio  sequaces  tantae  super- 
biae  exequendo,  disponentes  ab  Aquilone  sedem  erigere  contra  Vicar- 
ium  Jesu  Christi.  Sed  quoniam,  ut  primus  Lucifer,  cui  non  fuit  hue 
usque  secundus,  cum  sequacibus  suis  cecidit,  corruet,  quantacumque 
fulciatur  potentia,  et  secundus.  Nonne  diu  nituntur  principia  ponere, 
qui  dicunt  temporalia  spiritualibus  non  subesse?  Hie  jam  dictis 
finem  imponimus,  fraternitatem  vestram  in  Domino  exhortantes, 
utspretis  temporalibus,  et  contemptis  minis  judicum,  nobiscum  as- 
cendatis  ad  cor  altum:  et  exaltabitur  Deus,  qui  dissipat  consilia 
principum,  et  reprobat  cogitationes  populorum;  pro  finno  scientes, 
quod  obedientes  gratiose  videbimus,  et  contumaces  pro  qualitate 
criminis  puniemus. 

Ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam. 

Unam  sanctam  Ecclesiam  catholicam,  et  ipsam  apostolicam,  ur- 
gente  fide,  credere  cogimur  et  tenere,  nosque  hanc  firmiter  credimus, 
et  simpliciter  confitemur;  extra  quam  nee  salus  est,  nee  remissio 
peccatorum,  sponso  in  canticis  proclamante:  Una  est  columba  mea, 
perfecta  mea :  una  est  matris  suae  electa  genitricis  suae ;  quae  unum 
corpus  mysticum  repraesentat,  cujus  corporis  caput  Christus,  Christi 
vero  Deus:  in  qua  unus  dominus,  una  fides,  unum  baptisma.  Una 
nempe  fuit  diluvii  tempore  area  Noe,  unam  Ecclesiam  praefigurans, 
quae  in  uno  cubito  consummata,  unum  Noe  videlicet  gubernatorem 
habuit,  et  rectorem,  extra  quam  omnia  subsistentia  super  terrain 
legimus  fuisse  deleta.  Hanc  autem  veneramur,  et  unicam,  dicente 
Domino  in  propheta :  Erue  a  framea  Deus  animam  meam,  et  de  manu 
canis  unicam  meam.  Pro  anima  enim,  id  est  pro  seipso  capite  simul 
oravit  et  corpore:  quod  corpus,  unicam  scilicet  Ecclesiam  nominavit 
propter  sponsi  fidei  sacramentorum,  et  charitatis  Ecclesiae  unitatem. 
Haec  est  tunica  ilia  Domini  inconsutilis,  quae  scissa  non  fuit;  sed 


538  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

forte  provenit.  Igitur  Ecclesiae,  unius,  et  unicae  unum  corpus,  unum 
caput,  non  duo  capita  quasi  monstrum,  Christus  scilicet  et  Christi 
vicarius  Petrus,  Petrique  successor,  dicente  Domino  ipsi  Petro; 
Pasce  oves  meas.  Meas,  inquit,  generaliter  non  singulariter  has  vel 
illas,  per  quod  commisisse  sibi  intelligitur  nuiversas.  Sive  igitur 
Graeci,  sive  alii  se  dicant  Petro  ejusque  successoribus  non  esse  com- 
missos,  fateantur  necesse  est,  se  de  ovibus  Christi  non  esse,  dicente 
Domino  in  Joanne,  unum  ovile,  unum  et  unicum  esse  Pastorem. 

In  hac  ejusque  potestate  duos  esse  gladios,  spiritualem  videlicet  et 
temporalem  evangelicis  dictis  instruimur.  Nam  dicentibus  Apostolis : 
Ecce  gladii  duo  hie;  in  Ecclesia  scilicet,  cum  Apostoli  loquerentur, 
non  respondit  Dominus  nimis  esse,  sed  satis.  Certe  in  potestate  Petri 
temporalem  gladium  esse  negat,  male  verbum  attendit  Domini  pro- 
f erentis :  Converte  gladium  tuum  in  vaginam.  Uterque  ergo  in  potes- 
tate Ecclesiae,  spiritualis  scilicet  gladius,  et  materialis :  sed  is  quidem 
pro  Ecclesia,  ille  vero  ab  Ecclesia,  exercendus :  ille  Sacerdotis,  is 
manu  Eegum  et  militum;  sed  ad  nutum  et  patientiam  Sacerdotis. 
Oportet  autem  gladium  esse  sub  gladio,  et  temporalem  auctoritatem 
spirituali  subjici  potestati :  nam  cum  dicat  Apostolus :  Non  est  po- 
testas  nisi  a  Deo :  quae  autem  a  Deo  sunt,  ordinata  sunt ;  non  ordinata 
essent,  nisi  gladius  esset  sub  gladio,  et  tamquam  inferior  reduceretur 
per  alium  in  suprema:  nam  secundum  beatum  Dionysium  lex  divi- 
tatis  est  infima  per  media  in  suprema  reduci.  Non  ergo  secundum 
ordinem  universi  omnia  aeque  ac  immediate,  sed  infima  per  media, 
inferiora  per  superiora  ad  ordinem  reducuntur;  spiritualem  autem 
et  dignitate  et  nobilitate  terrenam  quamlibet  praecellere  potestatem, 
opportet,  tanto  clarius  nos  fateri,  quanto  spiritualia  temporalia  ante- 
cellunt:  quod  etiam  ex  decimarum  datione,  et  benedictione,  et  sancti- 
ficatione,  ex  ipsius  potestatis  acceptione,  ex  ipsarum  rerum  guber- 
natione  claris  oculis  intuemur;  nam  veritate  testante,  spiritualis  po- 
testas  terrenem  potestatem  instituere  habet  et  judicare,  si  bona  non 
f uerit :  sic  de  Ecclesia  et  ecclesiastica  potestate  verificatur  vaticinium 
Jeremiae:  Ecce  constitui  te  hodie  super  gentes,  et  regna,  etc.  quae 
sequuntur. 

Ergo  si  deviat  terrena  potestas,  judicabitur  a  potestate  spirituali: 
sed  si  deviat  spiritualis  minor  a  suo  superior! :  si  vero  suprema  a  solo 
Deo,  non  ab  homine  poterit  judicari,  testante  Apostolo :  "  Spiritualis 
"  homo  judicat  omnia ;  ipse  autem  a  nemine  judicatur."  Est  autem 
haec  auctoritas,  etsi  data  sit  homini,  et  exerceatur  per  hominem, 
non  humana,  sed  potius  divina  potestas,  ore  divino  Peato  data,  sibique 
suisque  successoribus  in  ipso  Christo,  quern  confessus  fuit,  petra 
firmata ;  dicente  Domino  ipsi  Petro :  "  Quodcumque  ligaveris,  etc." 
Quicumque  igitur  huic  potestati  a  Deo  sic  ordinatae  resistit,  Dei 
ordinationi  resistit,  nisi  duo,  sicut  Manichaeus,  fingat  esse  principia, 
quod  falsum  et  haereticum  esse  judicamus:  quia  testante  Moyse,  non 
in  principiis,  sed  in  principio  coelum  Deus  creavit  et  terram.  Porro 
subesse  Romano  Pontifici  omni  humanae  creaturae  declaramus,  di- 
cimus,  et  diffinimus  omnino  esse  de  necessitate  salutis.  Dat.  Laterani 
XIV.  Kal.  decembris  anno  VIII. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  539 


DOCUMENT  (2O). 

AN  OBSERVATION   ON   THE   CONSTITUTION   "  UNAM   SANCTAM,"   AND  ON   THE 
BOOK  OF  DANTE,  DE  MONARCHIA. 

We  venture  an  observation  on  the  famous  constitution  Unam 
Sanctam.  It  seems  that  this  Bull  had  for  its  opponents  only  the 
jurists,  and  the  Gallican  defenders  of  the  Kegalia,  such  as  John  of 
Paris  in  the  time  of  Philip  the  Fair,  a  Natalis  Alexander  and  a 
Bossuet  nearer  our  time.  Still  if  our  conjectures  have  any  founda- 
tion, a  poet,  a  very  great  poet,  Dante  Alighieri,  was  also  among 
this  number.  We  will  touch  but  lightly  on  the  question,  leaving  to 
others,  if  agreeable,  the  labor  of  examining  it  deeply. 

It  is  certain  that  hardly  had  this  constitution  been  published,  than 
it  created  a  great  stir;  and  for  this  reason  there  was  not  one  who  did 
not  know  it.  In  this  constitution  Boniface,  adhering  to  the  ancient 
doctrines  of  the  universal  Church,  defines  that  this  Church  is  one, 
that  its  head  is  one  and  is  endowed  with  a  double  power,  symbolized 
by  the  two  swords  of  St.  Peter,  which  aroused  so  much  fear  in  Philip 
the  Fair.  We  have  already  spoken  of  this  temporal  power  indirectly 
exercised  by  the  Pope  over  kings  by  reason  of  sin.  The  principle  of 
the  Guelph  party  is  entirely  centered  in  this  doctrine.  Dante,  an 
exile  and  transformed  into  a  Ghibelline,  took  his  exile  much  to  heart ; 
and  as  he  placed  all  his  hope  of  return  to  Florence  in  the  Emperor 
Henry  of  Luxemburg,  no  one  desired  more  than  he  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  Empire  in  Italy.  He  was  a  Ghibelline,  because  he  was 
an  exile;  and  so  the  love  for  his  far  away  country,  the  hatred  for 
those  who  governed  it,  and  closed  its  gates  against  him,  nourished 
in  him  the  desire  of  seeing  Henry  of  Luxemburg  become  the  new 
hope  of  a  better  period  for  Italy.37  His  letter  to  the  Emperor  clearly 
proves  that  Dante,  formerly  a  Guelph,  became  a  Ghibelline,  not 
heartily  and  by  conviction,  but  because  he  was  an  exile,  and  was  such 
on  account  of  Boniface.  The  spirit  of  Dante,  proud  and  opposed  to 
slavery,  even  in  the  hospitable  court  of  the  Scaligers  who  sheltered 
him,  was  not  so  weak  as  to  kiss  the  ground  before  the  feet  of  Luxem- 
burg, nor  to  call  the  German  the  successor  of  Caesar  and  Augustus. 
The  love  of  country  and  the  hatred  for  his  enemies,  enslaved  the 
imagination  of  the  Italian  Homer  in  his  Divine  Comedy,  and  his 
reason  in  his  book  on  the  Monarchy. 

Having  returned  from  Paris  into  Italy,  enticed  by  the  hopes  with 
which  Henry  of  Luxemburg  inspired  him  he  wrote  three  books  "  De 
Monarchia"  We  shall  not  speak  either  of  the  possibility  or  the  jus- 

w  Letter  of  Dante  to  Emperor  Henry  of  Luxemburg.  To  the  most 
glorious  and  happy  victor,  and  illustrious  Lord,  Messer  Henry,  by  di- 
vine providence  king  of  the  Romans,  and  ever  prosperous,  his  very 
devoted,  Dante  Alighieri,  a  Florentine,  unjustly  banished,  and  in  general 
all  the  Tuscans  who  want  peace,  kiss  the  earth  before  your  feet. 


540  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

tice  of  the  project  of  an  universal  monarchy  conceived  by  Dante;  we 
will  content  ourselves  by  calling  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the 
third  book  of  this  treatise.  Dante  tries  to  show  that  the  temporal 
power,  centered  by  him  entirely  in  the  Empire  and  in  that  of  Henry 
of  Luxemburg,  depends  immediately  on  God,  and  not  mediately  on 
any  other  divine  power  on  earth.  If  one  will  take  the  pains  to  peruse 
this  book,  of  a  rough  and  almost  barbarously  scholastic  nature,  and 
contrast  it  with  the  constitution  Unam  Sanctam,  he  can  without 
doubt  easily  and  reasonably  surmise  that  Dante  had  really  this  Bull 
in  view  when  he  wrote  his  three  books  of  the  Monarchy.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  third  book  he  alludes  to  the  Pope  in  the  following: 
"  Cujus  quidem  veritas,  quia  sine  rubore  aliquorum  emergere  nequit, 
"  f orsitan  alicujus  indignationis  causa  in  me  erit."  Afterwards  he 
enumerates  the  different  classes  of  those  who  do  not  agree  with  him 
in  his  opinion  of  the  nature  of  the  Monarchy:  "  Officium  Monarchae 
"  sive  imperii  dependet  a  Deo  immediate."  He  arraigns  Boniface, 
not  expressly  but  in  a  transparent  manner :  "  Sunt  et  tertii  quos 
Decretalistas  vocant,  Theologiae  et  Philosophae  cujuslibet  inscii  et 
"  expertes,  suis  Decretalibus  (quas  profecte  venerandas  existimo) 
"tota  intentione  innixi,  de  illarum  praevalentia  credo  sperantes,  im- 
"  perio  derogant."  His  intention  is  more  clearly  revealed  in  the 
refutation  he  makes  of  the  application  of  the  text:  " Ecce  duo  gladii 
hie,  to  the  double  power  of  the  Pope.  The  defenders  of  the  Regalia 
have  found  that  all  the  venom  of  the  theories  of  Boniface  regarding 
his  Papal  power  over  kings,  was  hidden  in  the  figurative  sense  at- 
tributed by  this  Pontiff  to  the  two  famous  swords  of  St.  Peter.  It  is 
curious  to  read  how  Dante  interprets  the  passage :  "  Ecc  duo  gladii 
"hie"  and  the  other:  "  Quodcumque  ligaveris;"  to  see  how  that  lofty 
soul  had  been  depressed  by  exile,  and  was  unfortunate  in  its  efforts 
to  recover  the  power  of  its  reason :...."  Under  the  shadow  of  the 
"  holy  wings." 


NOTE  (2P). 

A  LETTER  TO  ALBERT,  KING  OF  THE  ROMANS. 

Alberto  Regi  Eomanorum  illustri  ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam. 

Patris  aeterni  Filius  Dominus  Jesus  Christus,  cujus  licet  immeriti 
vices  in  terris  gerimus,  misericordiae  benignitatem  exercens,  ut  in 
ejus  beneplacita  feramus  jugum  apostolicae  servitutis,  viam  nos  hu- 
militatis  edocuit,  nosque  suorum  doctrinis  mandatorum  instruxit,  ut 
ipsius  vestigia,  qui  patiens  et  humilis  est  acque  misericors,  quantum 
patitur  humana  fragilitas  imitemur.  Nos  itaque  ipsius  exemplo 
dirigi  cupientes,  quos  ad  nos  fiducia  devota  reducit,  libenter  brachiis 
paternae  benignitatis  amplectimur,  illisque  sinum  mansuetudinis  et 
misericordiae  non  negamus,  dum  eis,  praesertim  devotionis  et  humili- 
tatis  instantia  suffragatur 

Ad  gloriam  igitur  omnipotentis  Dei  Patris,  et  Filii,  et  Spiritus 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  541 

sancti,  et  beatae  ac  gloriosae  semperque  virginis  Mariae,  beatorum 
quoque  apostolorum  Petri,  et  Pauli;  et  ad  honorem  et  exaltationem 
sanctae  Romanae  ecclesiae  ac  Imperil  praedictorum,  et  prsperum 
statum  mundi;  de  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio,  praesente  quoque 
praelatorum  et  aliorum  copiosa  multitudine  curialium,  auctoritate 
apostolica,  et  de  apostolicae  plenitudine  potestatis,  te  in  specialem 
filium  nostrum  recipimus  et  ecclesiae  memorate,  ac  in  Regem  Roma- 
norum  assuminus,  in  Imperatorem,  auctore  Domino,  promovendum ; 
volentes  et  statuentes,  ut  de  caetero  talis  filius  Rexque  Romanorum 
existas,  in  Imperatorem,  ut  praemittitur,  promovendus;  et  quod  pro 
tali  ab  aliis  habearis,  tibique  sicut  Romanorum  Regi  electo  legitime, 
et  Aquisgrani  coronato  obedire  debere  ab  omnibus,  et  singulis  sacro 
Romano  subjectis  Imperio,  sicut  pareri  solet  et  debet  praedecessoribus 
tuis  Romanorum  Regibus,  legitime  intrantibus,  et  a  praefata  sede 
hactenus  approbatis:  supplentes  omnem  defectum,  si  quis  aut  ratione 
formae,  aut  ratione  tuae  vel  tuorum  electorum  personarum,  seu  ex 
quavis  alia  ratione  vel  causa,  sive  quocumque  modo  in  hujusmodi  tua 
electione,  coronatione,  ac  administratione  fuisse  noscatur.  Omnia 
insuper  et  singula,  per  te  vel  alios  de  mandate  tuo  facta  et  habita  in 
administratione  praedicta,  quae  alias  justa  et  licita  extitissent,  ita 
valere  decernimus  et  tenere,  sicut  si  administratio  ipsa  tibi  compe- 
tisse  legitime  nosceretur 


DOCUMENT   (2Q). 

CONSTITUTION  OF  BONIFACE  REGARDING  HIS  CONFLICT  WITH 
PHILIP  THE  FAIR. 

Ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam.  Rem  non  novam  aggredimur,  neque 
viam  insolitam  ambulamus,  sed  anterioris  juris  calcatam  vestigiis 
praesentis  constitutionis  indubitato  roboramus  suffragio,  et  incon- 
cusso  munimine  stabilimus.  .  .  . 

Praemissis  igitur  in  debitam  considerationem  deductis.  .  .  . 
declaramus  de  fratrum  nostrorum  consilio,  et  nihilominus  hoc  edicto 
perpetuo  valituro  firmamus  et  statuimus,  ut  citationes  auctoritate. 
apostolica  de  quibuscumque  personis,  undecunque  et  ubicumque  sint, 
cujuscumque  status,  dignitatis,  vel  praeeminentiae,  ecclesiasticae  vel 
mundanae,  etiam  si  imperiali  aut  regali  fulgeant  dignitate;  prae- 
sertim  si  impediant,  vel  faciant  per  se  vel  alies  quoquomodo  ne  cita- 
tiones ipsae  ad  eos  perveniant,  ex  quacumque  causa  faciendo  ut  citan- 
dorum,  domicilia  sive  loca  tute  vel  libere  adiri  non  possint;  cum, 
prout  scriptum  est,  existimare  debeamus  an  eo  ire  liceat  ubi  est  citatio 
facienda;  provide  ad  instar  edictorum  praefatorum  propositorum  in 
albo  praetoris  etiam  extra  solemnes  dies,  in  quibus  Romani  Pontifices 
suos  facere  consueverunt  generales  processus  publice  id  nobis  spe- 
cialiter  et  ex  certa  scientia  jubentibus,  factae  in  audientia  literarum 
nostrarum,  aut  in  aula  nostri  palatii  postmodum  affigendae  januis 


54:2  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

majoris  ecclesiae  loci,  in  quo  Eomana  communis  omnium  Christiani 
populi  nationum  residebit  curia,  ut  cunctis  possint  patere,  et  ita  de- 
ferri  citatis  sic  valeant,  ac  arctent  citatos  post  terminum  lapsum, 
quern  considerata  locorum  distantia  volumus  citationibus  ipsis  com- 
pententem  apponi,  sicut  si  ipsos  personaliter  apprehendissent ;  non, 
obstantibus  aliquibus  privilegis,  indulgentiis,  et  literis  apostolicis, 
generalibus  aut  speciliabus  quibuscumque  personis  pontifical!,  im- 
perali,  regali,  vel  alia  ecclesiastica  seu  mundana  dignitate  praeditis, 
aliisque  inferioribus,  seu  ecclesiis,  monasteriis,  locis,  collegiis  et  uni- 
versitatibus  in  quacumque  verborum  forma  concesssi,  per  quae  talium 
citationum  effectus  possit  quomodolibet  impediri,  etiam  si  de  ipsis  et 
eorum  totis  tenoribus  de  verbo  ad  verbum  aut  de  propriis  nominibus 
personarum,  et  infra,  oporteat  in  nostris  literis  fieri  mentionem. 
Nulli  ergo,  etc.  Dat.  Anagniae  XVIII.  Kal.  septembris  anno  IX. 


NOTE  (2K). 

THE   PIETY   OP   BONIFACE. 

God  alone  can  judge  interior  piety,  because  he  alone  can  search  the 
hearts  and  reins.  In  judging,  men  have  no  other  criterion  but  that  of 
works,  which  though  fallible  always  suffices  on  earth  to  distinguish 
good  men  from  bad.  We  have  said  that  it  is  fallible  because  hypoc- 
risy hides  itself  cleverly  and  so  carefully  that  it  is  often  impossible 
(not  always,  however),  to  discover  its  shameful  nakedness.  We  have 
found  a  proof  of  the  piety  of  Pope  Boniface,  in  a  manuscript  in  the 
library  of  the  Dukes  of  Urbino,  numbered  1675,  entitled:  "Life, 
"  habits,  manners  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  events  of  his  Pontificate," 
and  which  we  have  mentioned  elsewhere.  In  this  work,  after  a  great 
amount  of  abuse  against  this  Pope,  we  read  these  words :...."  And 
"  nevertheless,  all  these  iniquities  had  not  increased,  because  showing 
"  much  devotion  and  humility  in  the  churches,  and  devotion  to  the 
"  Holy  Virgin,  he  never  failed  to  repair  to  the  church  of  the  Lateran, 
"  and  the  church  named  after  the  Crucifix,  where  he  remained  to  pray 
"  two  full  hours  daily."  Two  prayers  composed  by  this  Pontiff,  the 
one  in  honor  of  Jesus  crucified,  and  the  other  to  the  glory  of  our  Lady 
of  Sorrows,  very  short  prayers,  but  full  of  tender  and  sincere  piety, 
admirably  confirm  the  words  of  this  anonymous  author.  The  former 
being  known  in  Latin,  we  will  produce  it  from  the  translation  made 
in  XIII.  century,  probably  by  Boniface  himself.  In  perusing  the 
manuscript  4839  in  the  Vatican  Library,  which  dates  from  the  XIII. 
century,  and  which  belonged  to  Viero  dei  Vieri,  we  found  on  page  94 
the  following  words :  "  This  prayer  written  here  below  was  composed 
"  by  Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  and  he  who  recites  it  each  day  for  thirty 
"  days,  who  fasts  one  day  devoutly,  who  repents  and  confesses  his 
"  sins,  will  receive  pardon  from  all  his  sins  on  the  part  of  the  said 
Pope." 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  543 

"  O  Lord  God,  who  for  our  Redemption,  was  pleased  to  be 
"  reproved  by  the  Jews,  to  be  betrayed  by  the  kiss  of  Judas,  to  be 
"  bound  with  cords,  to  be  led  as  to  a  sacrifice,  innocent  and  faultless 
"  conducted  into  the  presence  of  Annas,  Caipas,  Pilate  and  Herod, 
"  to  be  accused  by  false  witnesses,  to  be  pierced  by  sharp  nails,  to  be 
"  scourged,  to  be  loaded  with  opprobrium,  crowned  with  thorns,  to 
"  be  struck  with  the  hands,  to  be  raised  on  the  Cross  between  two 
"  thieves,  to  be  given  gall  and  vinegar  to  drink,  to  be  pierced  by  a 
"  lance ;  O  Lord  God,  by  these  most  holy  sufferings,  to  which  I  have 
"  recourse,  thy  unworthy  servant,  and  by  the  holy  Cross,  deliver  me 
"  from  all  danger,  assist  me  in  my  necessities  whilst  I  live  in  this 
"  world ;  and  at  my  death  deliver  me  from  the  pains  of  hell,  and 
"  deign  to  lead  me  a  poor  sinner  to  that  place  where  thou  didst  lead 
"the  crucified  thief,  and  where  thou  livest  and  reignest  with  the 
"  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  true  God  forever  and  ever.  Amen." 

The  other  prayer  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  in  verse.  It  was  found 
by  Jerome  Amati  in  an-  old  codex  in  the  Vatican  library,  and  pub- 
lished by  Perticari  in  his  treatise  on  The  defence  of  Dante,  in  chapter 
XXVI.  In  this  codex  it  is  stated  that  these  verses,  which  we  here 
produce,  were  recited,  in  the  XVth  century,  in  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul 
outside  the  walls;  whereby  Perticari  proves  that  the  Pope  favored  the 
development  of  our  infant  language  by  consecrating  it  to  the  service 
of  the  Church.  In  this  manuscript  we  read :  "  Holy  Pope  Boniface 
"  VIII.  composed  the  following  prayer,  and  granted  to  those  who  will 
recite  it,  deliverance  from  a  sudden  death."  "  The  Virgin  stood 
"  beneath  the  Cross,  she  beheld  Jesus,  the  true  light,  suffer ;  mother  of 
"  the  King  of  the  whole  universe,  she  beheld  His  head  which  was 
"bowed,  and  all  his  body  which  was  tortured  for  the  redemption 
"  of  this  wicked  world.  She  beheld  her  Son  who  looked  upon  her  and 
"  said :  O  afflicted  woman,  full  of  bitterness  and  unhappiness,  behold 
"  thy  son,  and  He  pointed  out  John  to  her.  She  beheld  vinegar  mixed 
"  with  gall  given  to  the  sweet  Jesus  Christ  to  drink,  and  a  big  lance 
"  pierce  His  heart.  She  beheld  her  Son  having  suffered  everything 
"  say  with  the  scriptures :  It  is  consummated.  A  flood  of  tears  suf- 
"  fused  her  eyes.  The  Virgin  Mother  weeps  for  the  Redeemer  of 
"  Heaven  and  earth.  The  grief  of  thy  heart  was  intense,  Virgin 
"  Mother,  beholding  thy  dear  Son  expire.  This  suffering  was  so  ex- 
"  treme  that  it  surpassed  a  thousand  times  the  suffering  of  all  the 
"martyrs,  martyred  for  thee.  Mother  of  Mercy,  humble  and  com- 
"  passionate,  the  only  hope  of  my  soul,  grant  me  victory  over  the 
"  enemy."  These  verses  which  Perticari  calls  poor  verses,  and  which 
we  find  were  not  so  paltry,  are  an  abridgment  of  that  most  tender 
elegy,  the  Stdbat  Mater,  The  reader  can  judge  humanly  speaking, 
from  these  two  prayers,  whether  the  heart  of  Boniface  was,  as  it  was 
accused,  a  filthy  pool,  or  whether,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  tempered 
by  sweet  and  holy  affections,  which  revealed  a  man  nourished  by  the 
things  of  God. 


544  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

DOCUMENT  (2S). 

BULL   OF  BENEDICT   XI   AGAINST  THE   PERSECUTORS   OF  BONIFACE. 

Benedictus,  etc.  ad  perpetuam  rei  memoriam. 

Flagitiosum  scelus,  et  scelestum  flagitium,  qud  quidam  scerat- 
issiroi  viri,  summum  audentes  nefas,  in  personam  bonae  memoriae 
Bonifacii  Papae  VIII.  praedecessoris  nostri,  non  sine  gravi  perfidia 
commiserunt,  puniendum  prosequi  ex  justis  causis  hucusque  distu- 
limus :  sed  ulterius  sustinere  non  possumus,  quin  exurgamus,  immo 
Deus  in  nobis  exurgat,  ut  dissipentur  inimici  ejus,  et  ab  ipsius  facie 
fugiant,  qui  oderunt  eum:  dissipentur  dicimus,  si  vere  poenitent, 
sicut  ad  praedicationem  Jonae,  Ninive  conversa  est:  alias  ut  Jerico 
subvertantur  Olim  siquidem,  dum  idem  Bonifacius  Anagniae  pro- 
priae  originis  loco  cum  sua  curia  resideret,  ipsum  nonnulli  perditionis 
filii,  primogeniti  sathanae,  et  iniquitatis  alumni,  omni  pudore  post- 
posito,  et  reverentia  retrojecta,  praelatum  subditi,  parentem  liberi,  et 
vassalli  dominum  Guillelmus  scilicet  de  Nogareto,  Renaldus  de  Su- 
pino,  etc.  et  alii  factionis  ministri  armati  hostiliter  et  injuriose  coepe- 
runt,  manus  in  eum  injecerunt  impias,  protervas  erexerunt  cervices, 
ac  blasphemiarum  voces  funestas  ignominiose  jactarunt.  Eodem 
etiam  facto  et  opera  per  ejusdem  factionis  complices  et  alios  thesaurus 
Romanae  ecclesiae  ablatus  violenter  extitit,  et  nequiter  asportatus. 

Haec  palam,  haec  publice,  haec  notorie,  et  in  nostris  etiam  oculis 
patrata  fuerunt.  In  his  laesae  majestatis,  perduellionis,  sacrilegii, 
legis  Juliae  de  vi  publica,  Corneliae  de  sicariis,  privati  carceris,  et 
rapinae,  furti,  et  tot  alia,  quot  ex  hujusmodi  facto  facinora  secuta 
sunt,  crimina,  et  felloniae  etiam  delictum  commissa  notamus: 
in  iis  stupidi  facti  sumus.  Quis  crudelis  hie  a  lacrymis  temperet? 
Quis  odiosus  compassionem  non  habeat?  Quis  deses,  aut  remissus 
judex  ad  procedendum  non  surgat?  Quis  pius  sive  misericors  non 
efficiatur  severus?  Hie  violata  securitas,  hie  immunitas  temerata. 
Propria  patria  tutela  non  fuit,  nee  domus  refugium:  summum  Pon- 
tificium  dehonestatum  est;  et,  suo  capto  sponso,  Ecclesia  quodam- 
modo  captivitata.  Quis  locus  reperietur  amodo  tutus?  Quae  sancta, 
Romano  violato  Pontifice,  poterunt  invenire?  O  piaculare  flagitium, 
o  inauditum  f acinus,  O  Anagnia  misera,  quae  talia  in  te  fieri  passa 
es!  Ros  et  pluvia  super  te  non  cadant,  in  alios  descendant  montes,  te 
autem  transeant,  quia  te  vidente,  et  prohibere  valente,  fortis  cecidit, 
et  accinctus  robore  superatus  est.  O  infelicissimi  patratores,  non 
imitati  quern  nos  imitari  volumus  David  sanctum,  qui  in  Christum 
Domini,  etiam  inimicum,  persecutorem  et  aemulum  suum,  quia  dictum 
erat:  Noli  tangere  christos  meos;  manum  extendere  nouit,  et  in 
extendentem  irrui  gladio  juste  fecit.  Infandus  dolor,  lamentabile 
factum,  perniciosum  exemplum,  inexpiabile  malum,  et  confusio  mani- 
festa!  Sume  lamentum  Ecclesia,  ora  tua  fletibus  rigent,  et  in  adju- 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS.  545 

torium  debitae  ultionis  filii  tui  de  longe  veniant,  et  filiae  de  latere 
surgant. 

Verum  quia  scriptum  est:  Feci  judicium  et  justitiam;  et  Honor 
Kegis  judicium  diligit;  nos  in  praedictis  sic  judicium,  quod  ad  ho- 
norem  nostrum  pertinet,  facere  cupimus,  quod  a  justitia  minime 
divertamus  Actum  Perusivii.  id.  junii  pontificatus  nostri  anno  1. 


NOTE  (2T). 

THE  INFAMOUS  ERASURES  MADE  IN  THE  REGISTER  OF  THE  LETTERS  OF 

BONIFACE. 

Thanks  to  the  obliging  kindness  of  the  illustrious  prefect  of  the 
secret  archives  of  the  Vatican,  Monsignor  Morini,  to  whom  we  shall 
be  ever  grateful,  we  had  every  facility  to  consult  the  magnificent 
register  manuscript  containing  the  letters  of  Boniface  VTII.  It  was 
with  no  little  anxiety  of  mind  that  we  read,  in  the  second  register, 
for  the  seventh  year  of  the  Pontificate,  on  page  140,  the  protest  of  the 
Notary  Apostolic,  against  the  erasure  of  all  the  writings  of  this 
Pontiff  which  offended  Philip,  and  which  this  prince  had  tyrannically 
demanded.  These  are  the  words :  "  Ego  Oddo  de  sermineto,  Pub. 
"  Apostolica  auctoritate  notarius  ac  litterarum  apostolicarum  re- 
"  gistrator  de  expresso  mandato  reverendissimorum  Patrum  D. 
"  Berengarii  Episcopi  Tusculani,  ac  D.  Arnaldi,  tituli  S.  Priscae, 
"  Presb.  Cardinalis  S.  R.  E.  Vice-Cancellarii  facto  mihi  per  eos  ex 
"  parte  SS.  Patris  Domini  nostri  D.  Clementis  Divina  providentia 
"  PP.  V.  qui  hoc  eis  pluries  mandaverat,  ut  dicebant,  feci,  seu  in 
"  praesentia  mea  et  magistrorum  Andreae  de  Setia  et  Emmanuelis 
"de  Parma  fieri  feci  rasuras  vacuas  quae  aunt  in  quarto,  quinto  et 
"  sexto  foliis  proxime  praecedentibus,  quarum  primum  immediate 
"  praecedit  quaedam  littera,  quae  incipit ;  De  statu  terrarum,  et  se- 
"  quitur  alia  quae  incipit :  Nuper  ex  rationalibus.  Secunda  vero 
"  rasura  facta  in  litera,  quae  incipit  Ausculta :  incipit  immediate 
"post  verba  eflicaciter  adimplere  et  infra:  et  finit  ante  verba  ilia  Ad 
"  te  igitur.  Tertia  autem  rasura  in  eadem  litera  facta,  incipit  im- 
"  mediate  post  verba  nee  habens  aliquod  inhonestum  et  infra.  Et 
"  finit  ante  verba  ilia  A d  haec  ne  Terrae  sanctae  negotium.  Ibidem 
"  in  quarta  linea  subsequenti  facta  una  alia  rasura  unius  tantummodo 
"  dictionis.  Ultima  quoque  rasura  incipit  proxime  post  ilia  ut  in 
"  praesenti  divinam  gratiam.  Ideoque  praedicta  de  eodem  mandato 
"  in  rei  gestae  testomonium  scripsi  sub  solito  signo  meo.  Viennae  in 
"  hospitio  Domini  Cardinalis  Vice-Cancellarii  supradicit,  vivae  vocis 
"  oraculo." 

Et  ego  Andreas  Taccanius  de  Setia,  public,  imperiali  auctoritate 
notarius  ae  Literarum  Apostol.  Regestrator,  praedicta  omnia  per 
eundem  modum  ut  praedictus  Magister  Oddo  de  eodem  mandato  feci, 
seu  fieri  feci.  Ideoque  de  mandato  praedicto  hie  in  rei  gestae  tea- 


546  NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

timemium  in  domo  praedicti  D.  Vice-Cancellarii  me  subscripsi  sub 
solito  signo  meo. 

These  pages  erased  by  the  violent  order  of  Philip  the  Fair  were  sad 
to  behold.  We  gazed  on  them  for  a  long  time  and  thinking  of  these 
words :  "  Ex  parte  Domini  nostri  D  dementis  PP.  V.,"  we  deplored 
more  the  weakness  of  this  Pontiff  than  the  wickedness  of  the  King. 


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